Fansided

Who played well and who did not for the Chicago White Sox in the Detroit Tigers Series

By Todd Welter |
/ Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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The Chicago White Sox did not play bad baseball in their first series of the season. They also did not win during a three-game series with their AL Central division rival, the Detroit Tigers.

This season is expected to go poorly, but for three games the Sox showed they will not be an easy team to get a victory over. The defense was good. The pitching for the most part was solid. The only problem was the offense with its prolonged spurts of not scoring runs.

The Sox scored just eight runs over three games including getting shut out on Opening Day. A struggling offense is what you get when you build a roster focused on getting outs and not producing runs.

Two players were great in this series.

Garrett Crochet made his first career MLB start on Opening Day. The fear was he would not last long as he only logged 73 career innings as a reliever prior and missed all of 2022 after Tommy John surgery.

Crochet was absolutely electric with his stuff as he only allowed one run through six innings and struck out eight. His velocity was reaching near 100mph.

It is one start, but Crochet provided hope that he can be very good in his new role. If he keeps pitching like this, he might be the second player on this team worth watching.

Luis Robert Jr, the only player currently on the roster worth your time, banged out two home runs on Saturday. He crushed the first dinger 449 feet.

Robert Jr. finished 3-for-4 on Saturday. He was 4-for-12 during the series along with a 1.218 OPS in those three games.

Braden Shewmake had a good White Sox debut.

The utility infielder, who came to the White Sox from Atlanta in the Aaron Bummer deal, got the start at shortstop on Saturday and ripped a solo home run in his first Sox at-bat.

Shewmake also got the start on Sunday at second base. He was productive at the plate as he went 3-for-8.

It might just be two games, but it would be nice to see what Shewmake can do with some more at-bats since he is still 26. We know veterans Nicky Lopez and Paul DeJong are only good for fielding the ball, although DeJong can still smack a home run every now and again. Shewmake might still have something to become a decent everyday player.

Two bullpen arms were not good.

Dominic Leone won a bullpen job with an excellent spring training and had a rough second game with the White Sox on Saturday. Tasked with protecting a 6-4 lead in the seventh, Leone gave up a solo home run to Riley Greene. He later walked Mark Canha and that gave way to lefty Tim Hill.

He failed to get Carson Kelly out who drive in Canha to tie the game.

Hill failed again to keep the Tigers off the board on Sunday when he inherited a runner in the ninth. Pinch hitter Andy Ibanez ripped an RBI single to break a 2-2 and the Sox ended up getting swept.

You could make a case for the rest of the batting order outside of Robert Jr. and Shewmake being bad.

The bottom of the lineup looks like it has at least two to four automatic outs depending on who is in the lineup.

Andrew Vaughn, Andrew Benintendi, Yoan Moncada, and Eloy Jimenez combined to go 8-for-46 with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Moncada and Jimenez appear to still be swinging at bad pitches or not taking them.

Making matters worse is Jimenez is now hurt again as he left Sunday's game with an injury. The Sox have not determined how long he will be out, but the mere fact it only took three games for Eloy to get hurt shows he cannot handle the rigors of a 162-game season.

Twice the Sox had a chance to either tie the game back up or win the game in the bottom of ninth. Twice the lineup went away quietly.

It does not get any easier as the Braves and their potent lineup are in town for a three-game set.

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