Remember last season when Chicago White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal was the hero in several games he played in? It seems that he could hit himself out and the team of a jam and provide the White Sox with a lot of help on offense.
He was patient at the plate and took a lot of walks so his on-base percentage was beyond solid. Grandal seemed as if he could “will” himself to hit and was a big reason for the White Sox’s success in 2021.
Fast forward to 2022 and things just aren’t the same for Grandal or the White Sox for that matter. Grandal is not putting up the kind of numbers that he did last season, and it shows.
Going into the weekend, out of the 135 players that have 150 plus pate appearances, he ranks 130th in RBIs, 134th in OPS, 135th in runs scored, 135th in slugging, 133rd in batting average and 135th in extra-base hits.
The Chicago White Sox needs more for Yasmani Grandal as the season goes along.
Talk about being in the basement! Grandal has put up a cot there and doesn’t appear to be heading up the stairs anytime soon. And that’s not good for him or the White Sox. Grandal is slashing .170/.276/.506. That’s not good by any standards.
So, what’s wrong with Grandal? Why is he having such a bad season so far? It’s likely teams have figured him out and he’s not seeing the kind of stuff he was able to hit off of last year.
Maybe he’s too patient and not swinging enough? Any way you look at it, Grandal is not playing nearly as well as he did in 2021 and it’s hurting the White Sox.
Grandal must figure this thing out soon or else the White Sox are going to continue struggling to score runs. The Sox like don’t love his defense so he needs to get going with the bat again to be valuable. He must hit and start hitting soon.
Look for Grandal to start turning up the heat a little bit over the next couple of weeks and finally have the big game that everyone’s been waiting for him to have. Then, once that happens, he will be a lot more productive and contribute much more on offense for the White Sox in 2022.