Before the 2023 season, the Chicago White Sox made outfielder Andrew Benintendi the highest paid player in franchise history with a five-year, $75 million contract in free agency.
Granted, it doesn't take much to be the highest paid White Sox player, but there were undoubtedly still high expectations for Benintendi upon his arrival in Chicago.
The White Sox needed a corner outfielder that could bring stability to the position group for the first time in years. Even the contending Sox teams of the early 2020s saw rotations of Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets, A.J. Pollock, Oscar Colas, and Eloy Jimenez all playing subpar corner outfield defense.
Benintendi gave the White Sox a competent defensive left fielder (2021 Gold Glove Award) and what they hoped would be reliable offensive output. After all, in six of his first seven MLB seasons, Andrew Benintendi had an OPS of .766 or higher.
Unfortunately, the last three years have been incredible frustrating for Benintendi and the White Sox. A slew of injuries have hurt both his average and his defense, and scuffling White Sox team have only directed more attention to his struggles.
While Benintendi had a power surge in the second half of 2024, his dissapointing start to the 2025 season was a big let down.
Over the last few weeks, however, Benintendi has started to look more like that $75 million player Jerry Reinsdorf paid.
Andrew Benintendi is looking like himself again
Over his last 13 games, Andrew Benintendi is batting .400/.446/.680 with four (4) home runs, 11 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.126.
While Benintendi recently said in an interview that his power surge is covering up for other areas of his game that have been subpar, he has been incredibly well rounded during his recent hot stretch.
In those 13 games, Benintendi has six (6) multi-hit efforts. He has four (4) walks to seven (7) strikeouts and the White Sox are 8-5 as a team.
Benintendi has improved his fWAR for the season to 0.2, making this the first time since joining the White Sox that he has been a positive WAR player.
He looks every bit the part of the 2.0 fWAR player that he was in 2022, which is worth $16 million per season according to FanGraphs.
Benintendi living up to his contract will impact the rebuild
The White Sox don't need Benintendi to be the fringe superstar he was with the Red Sox during his age 22 and 23 season. That being said, if he can finish out the last two years of his contract playing above replacement level, it will be a massive boost to the organization's rebuild.
Give me a version of Andrew Benintendi in 2026 and 2027 that hits 20+ home runs, improves his batting average above .250, and has an OPS closer to .800.
A reliable veteran with those numbers would go a long way to bringing this team back to contention. I expect the White Sox rookies to improve even more and have big seasons in 2026, but if the Sox are going to surprise people and be somewhat competitive, they'll need veterans like Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. to step up.
It also couldn't hurt for the highest paid player in White Sox history to live up to his contract. Perhaps a big year from Benintendi would show Jerry Reinsdorf the benefits of spending in free agency.
The talent is still in there. For the last few weeks, we've seen the version of Andrew Benintendi that the White Sox paid for. Now it's about finishing the 2025 season strong and carrying this momentum into a healthy, prosperous 2026.