It was obvious that 2022 wasn't the year Yasmani Grandal and the Chicago White Sox were expecting to have.
In Grandal's eleventh major league season, he slashed .202/.301/.269 with 5 home runs and 27 RBIS. He also had an OPS of .570. Grandal set a career season low in all of those stats.
To say the least, it was a depressing year for Yasmani and the organization. He certainly hopes his offensive performance is much more efficient in 2023.
Yasmani Grandal has been a very consistent hitter for most of his career so when his struggles occurred throughout the 2022 season, there was some worrying. This was especially scary after coming off one of the best seasons of his career in 2021.
The Chicago White Sox need Yasmani Grandal to bounce back this year.
Like his teammates, health was an issue in 2022. He was dealing with back spasm problems for almost half of the season.
Yasmani Grandal has been working his tail off to return to where he was before 2022, including an abundance of intense workouts. His main goal was to regain his endurance through thirty exercises which have been working so far according to Grandal and skipper Pedro Grifol.
Inside Yasmani Grandal’s nightmare season.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) December 20, 2022
Plus, his intense offseason workouts, what he believes was the “knockout punch” last season, why he expects to be a whole lot better in 2023 and more. https://t.co/nxUharf48i
From my Monday Newsletter: Yasmani Grandal spoke to the media in San Diego of a fully healthy offseason workout plan. He has followed through with 30 training sessions, originally focused on getting endurance back, and "it's been great:" https://t.co/H5aUj58uoP
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 15, 2022
Grandal explained his nightmare-ish struggles on the White Sox Talk Podcast a couple of months ago, explaining how hard it was to get up in the morning to compete.
Grandal told Chuck Garfien that he couldn't even feel his legs waking up sometimes and that 2022 was a dreadful and ongoing nightmare for him and the clubhouse.
While it's still hard to predict what 2023 will bring for Grandal, his Spring Training performance thus far has been very promising.
Yasmani slugged in a solo shot from the right side on March 3rd. against the Cincinnati Reds. If Grandal can get his power back, it would set up for being a massive factor in the 2023 White Sox lineup.
Everyone saw his excellent 2021 in a White Sox uniform which correlated to various RBI opportunity at-bats for the catcher.
Yasmani Grandal drives a solo home run to left field to give the White Sox a 6-3 lead in the 3rd inning@Reds at @whitesox@YazmanianDVL08 pic.twitter.com/kLMhoHcdaQ
— Get Up, Get Outta Here (@4_bagger_blast) March 3, 2023
Yasmani Grandal has a 2.036 OPS this Spring Training.
— Josh Nelson (@soxmachine_josh) March 3, 2023
That's totally sustainable.
2023 is the last year in Yasmani Grandal's four-year, seventy-three million dollar deal. The White Sox most likely won't bring him back so it will be interesting to see what Grandal does in potentially his last dance on the south side.
Spring Training has given the all-star catcher all the right reasons to return to his proper form. All he has to do is keep the momentum going into the 2023 regular season.