Chicago White Sox veteran Andrew Benintendi vents about 'frustrating' three years

The Chicago White Sox don’t have many veterans on their roster. Only three players have logged over eight years of service time in the league: Andrew Benintendi, Michael A. Taylor, and Martín Pérez.

The rest are either rookies (13) or have one to five years of service time (10, with two on the IL). 

Having veterans on your big league roster to pair with rookies is essential. That's the kind of clubhouse mix that helps young players mature. The White Sox will have that going into next season, with at least two veterans (Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi) returning to their roster in 2026 to pair with their young nucleus. 

Robert Jr. will have a cloud of uncertainty surrounding when/if he returns next season, with the White Sox indicating they’ll pick up his $20 million team option.

Benintendi, however, also has a bit of a cloud following him. 2026 will be the second-to-last year of his five-year deal he signed before the 2023 season. It's been a rough few years for the White Sox since he joined the team, and the 31-year-old outfielder has dealt with his own ups and downs.

Benintendi vents about “frustrating” three years with the White Sox 

Benintendi hasn’t been what owner Jerry Reinsdorf had hoped he would be when he made him the highest-paid player in franchise history. Granted, that title doesn't mean a whole lot when the richest White Sox contract of all time is a five-year, $75 million deal.

Benintendi recently vented about some of his struggles with SoxMachine’s James Fegan, calling his three years in Chicago “frustrating”, and adding he hasn’t been “hot” while with the team. 

"I don't think I've been hot one time here," Benintendi told Fegan. "Like, Chicago. It's been three years now. It's been a frustrating three years."

While some Sox fans have been encouraged by Benintendi's recent power production, with three home runs in the last week, Benintendi admits that it's only a “shield” for other areas wrong with his game.

"I think the homers shield other things, and I think average-wise, it's been terrible," said Benintendi, before alluding to a year that's seen him hit the IL with some nagging leg issues. "There are some other things I've been dealing with that may play a factor into it too. I don't know."

Benintendi could still turn around his White Sox tenure

By the end of his deal with the White Sox, Benintendi will have spent the same amount of time as he did with the Boston Red Sox, where he was an above-average player.

In three seasons (392 games) since signing his deal, Benintendi has been a -0.5 fWAR player, while posting a .246 batting average and a .697 OPS with a 94 OPS+. 

In order for Benintendi to turn things around and justify his signing, he’ll need to have great campaign sin 2026 and 2027. Ideally, he'd play closer to an All-Star level and help lead a young team towards the playoffs. Being a young kid himself when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2018 over the Los Angeles Dodgers, Benintendi brings a level of playoff experience to a roster that virtually has none. 

We've seen the flashes from Benintendi in a White Sox uniform, but the production hasn't been consistent enough. Hopefully he finds a spark and plays up to his potential next season. Perhaps the youth on the South Side will rejuvenate Benintendi after a dull 2023-2025.