The Chicago White Sox are going to run Yasmani Grandal out again as the starting catcher. He had the worst year of his career in 2022 as it was clear that something wasn't right for him. Now, he is working hard to have a great bounce-back year here in 2023.
If he can be almost as good as he was in 2021, the White Sox will be in business with their batting order. He probably won't be the DH as much but they are going to rely on his bat to be good again this year. We can only hope that he has a strong (likely) end to his White Sox tenure.
He is certainly going to need a good backup catcher again this year though. There have been players that play okay in that role over the last few years and one of them has been Seby Zavala. He paid his dues in the minor leagues and earned a call-up a few years ago.
Although he isn't an impact player, Zavala has had some big moments in his career. His first, second, and third career home runs all came in the same game which is absolutely remarkable. He also drew the walk that set up Tim Anderson's walk-off home run at the Field of Dreams game.
The White Sox will certainly use Seby Zavala during the 2023 season.
Now, it seems as if Zavala is going to be the backup catcher once again in 2023 and he may get more starts than you think. Although Jimenez is likely to be the designated hitter in most games, he will surely have off days where Grandal can be the DH while Zavala catches.
Again, Zavala isn't an impact player on most days but he does have times when he is a very solid backup catcher. Getting that role is going to be earned this year you'd think but he doesn't have much competition going into spring training (at least right now).
The White Sox may look to bring in another catcher but that could end up impacting Grandal just as much as it does Zavala so we'll have to wait and see what happens on that front. Heading into February, you can expect the Grandal/Zavala pairing to be it for the White Sox behind the plate.