How The Starting Right Fielder Position Battle Is Going So Far During Spring Training

Another season is about to start for the Chicago White Sox and that means the team will have another different Opening Day starting right fielder.

Ever since Jermaine Dye's tenure concluded in 2009, the Sox have had nine different Opening Day starters in right. They have also pinned their hopes on the likes of Avisail Garcia, Nomar Mazara, and Oscar Colas as players who could develop into long-term starters. None of them have panned out.

Colas is still with the team, but he is now being tried out at first base. However, with the way the team demoted him late last season, during which the team lost 101 games, he probably does not figure to be in the plans to be a starter anytime soon.

He did get two at-bats and was a late-inning replacement in right during yesterday's Spring Training loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He did not reach base in either of those ABs. Colas is also hitting just .188, so it is highly unlikely he will be the Opening Day starter.

General manager Chris Getz and manager Pedro Grifol are looking at seven possible options to put out there in right.

Gavin Sheets spent his first two seasons as a backup outfielder and first baseman is being given a shot to win the job. Getz also traded for prospects ready to contribute at the big-league level in Dominic Fletcher and Zach DeLoach.

Getz also brought in veterans Rafael Ortega, Mark Payton, Brett Phillips, and Kevin Pillar as non-roster invitees to Spring Training.

Ortega is a reliable veteran backup.

Cubs fans are familiar with his work during his two seasons on the Northside. He hit a career-high .291 in 103 games for the Cubs during the 2021 season. He played in just 44 games last season for the New York Mets.

He will be 33 in May and is another veteran who would probably be suited to being the fifth outfielder if the Sox choose to carry that many.

However, he is not making a case to make the team with a .067/.118/.200 slash line in the early portion of Spring Training.

Kevin Pillar could be a reliable veteran leader.

He is past his prime but is still capable of playing a professional right field. He might provide the veteran leadership presence this club lacked last season.

If anything, he probably has the most honest assessment of how this franchise allowed what should have been a long reign at the top of the AL Central to end so quickly.

He is having a productive spring so far with a .250 average in seven games.

Payton is an organizational depth player.

Born in Orland Park, IL. Payton came to the Sox after spending time with the Cincinnati Reds. He played in eight games in 2022 where he had three hits in 21 at-bats. He was non-tendered after the season and went over to Japan.

Payton is a long shot to make the big-league club. He is 3-for-6 with a home run in Spring Training. Getting just six at-bats shows he is probably not winning a job but should help out Charlotte this year. Plus, it must be an organizational rule or something that he is invited to Spring Training.

Fletcher and DeLoach have promise.

Since this team is going to be awful, the job should really come down to these two.

Fletcher has some potential to be a solid everyday ball player. He had a .301/.350/.441 slash line during a 25-game stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks last season. He produced solid numbers at the plate for Arizona's Triple-A team. He has a solid glove too.

DeLoach possesses a power left-handed bat. He hit 23 home runs for Seattle's Triple-A affiliate in 2023. The problem for both Fletcher and DeLoach is they are on the older side for prospects. Fletcher is 26 and DeLoach is 25. Then again, that is considered young in the White Sox organization.

Still, it looks like there is more upside to their games than Sheets. Fletcher is hitting .211 this spring but he just raised that average after going 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.

Fletcher also showed off his speed with a bunt single.

DeLoach is off to a slow start with a .133 average, but he raised it from .077 as he went 1-for-2 as a late-game replacement yesterday. His hit drove in Ortega for a run in the ninth.

Hopefully, Fletcher or DeLoach win the job. Nothing against Sheets or Pillar, but we have seen what they can do, and it will not be anything that screams long-term starter. Fletcher and DeLoach could finally be the answer to this decade-plus problem in right.