3 White Sox players who are succeeding and two who are failing
The Chicago White Sox have a lot of players on their team that don't mix well with the group. It has nothing to do with their talent or their personalities.
Good teams have a nice mix of players that do different things well to help the team win. The White Sox are loaded with talented players that all pretty much do the same thing.
That is why 2023 has been such a disaster and makes 2022 look like a World Series contender. Rick Hahn still having a job should confuse a lot of people.
There are a few White Sox players this season that are succeeding and a few that are not. These are three notable succeeding and failing players:
1. Succeeding - Luis Robert Jr.
The White Sox need Luis Robert Jr. on top of his game at all times.
The Chicago White Sox have a lot of reasons to be annoyed with the way Luis Robert Jr's career has gone so far and a lot of reasons to be happy with it.
He is a very good five-tool player that dominates when he is on top of his game. He is a very good hitter that plays Gold Glove defense in a premier position.
His health has been a concern for his entire Major League career so far. Through the fist couple of months in 2023, he has been available.
As of right now, he will be the All-Star for the Chicago White Sox. You can make a case for him to be the starting centerfielder for the American League All-Stars. Hopefully, the rest of his season goes as well as the start of it.
2. Succeeding - Jake Burger
Jake Burger is one of the great comeback stories in White Sox history.
For a long time, it seemed like Jake Burger was never going to be a Major League Baseball player. He was dealing with lots of brutal injuries that felt impossible to come back from.
Well, not only has he come back, he has come back and become one of the great stories in team history. He has lived up to being a top hitter on the team like we thought when he was drafted.
Burger has tremendous power and he can break a game open with one swing. The White Sox would be in an even worse position right now if he wasn't there.
Hopefully, they find a way to keep Burger around through another rebuild because he loves playing for the White Sox, has an amazing family, and deserves to be with this team. Everyone loves Jake Burger both on and off the field.
3. Succeeding - Gavin Sheets
Gavin Sheets has been a great power hitter for the Chicago White Sox.
The Chicago White Sox don't need Gavin Sheets to be Barry Bonds. They do, however, need him to be a solid power bat from the left side of the plate.
So far in 2023, he has been that. After some ups and downs to start his Major League career in 2021 and 2022, he seems to be a fixture on the team now.
He doesn't play every single day but it feels smart to have him in the lineup whenever a righty is on the opposing mound. He has a decent OPS and can hit large home runs in big moments.
For the role he is carving out for himself, you have to say that he has been succeeding. He does everything the White Sox needs him to do well.
Even his defense in right field has improved a little bit which is saying something considering it was terrible in 2022. To be honest, he is a better outfielder than first baseman at this point. Hopefully, either way, he continues to mash baseballs.
1. Failing - Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease is sort of failing the White Sox at this moment in time.
The Chicago White Sox are in desperate need of 2022's version of Dylan Cease. If they had that version of him right now, they'd probably be in a much better spot when it comes to the race in the division.
Cease hasn't been terrible but he hasn't been good by his standards and that is a failure. Cease should not have an ERA over four with the stuff he has. That is a failure.
Of everyone on the White Sox, however, he has the most value because of how dominant he was in 2022. There are pitchers on this team doing worse than him but they don't have the expectations that he has.
They might consider trading him if he continues to be a mid-level pitcher this year before Scott Boras's contract negotiations start to come into play.
Hopefully, no matter what happens, Cease finds a way to kick it into another gear so he can help the White Sox get back in this thing.
2. Failing - Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson hasn't been nearly as good for the White Sox in 2023.
Again, there are other players having worse years than Tim Anderson so far but he is failing for a variety of reasons. For one, he is looking for a big contract soon and it is going to be hard to justify that.
He is also decreasing his trade value while playing like this on a bad White Sox team. They are bad but they have a chance not to be and he is a reason why.
The fact that Tim has a negative WAR right now is very bad. He doesn't have a home run in over a year and his OPS is below .600.
This is a former Silver Slugger-winning batting title type of guy. He was the starting shortstop for the American League All-Stars literally last year.
It is just being brutally honest to say that Tim Anderson needs to be significantly better. We can only hope that he, along with Dylan Cease and others, can find what used to make them top players not only on the White Sox but in the entire league.
Next. The 15 worst contracts in Chicago White Sox history. dark