When you think of winning statistics, you might wonder what exactly is a winning statistic.
Strikeouts could be considered a winning statistic by some. But when it comes down to it, the biggest and the best winning statistic is wins. Right now, the Chicago White Sox starting pitching staff don’t have a lot of them.
They are hurting for wins.
It’s not due to a lack of trying that’s for sure. The pitching staff could have a few more wins if the White Sox' non-existent offense wasn’t doing as poorly as it’s doing right now. The pitching staff would look better, perhaps. Still, these guys are off to a rough start allowing runs at critical times, especially home runs and although they are striking out people at a decent rate, the hits they do allow are devastating.
The White Sox are struggling so much that they brought up some minor leaguers to help them out. Now granted, these minor league players, Nick Nastrini and Jonathan Cannon did have good starts it’s only a matter of time before opponents figure them out and they become “human”. We saw Garrett Crochet become human against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night. We saw him get exposed and it was troubling.
Every pitcher on the Chicago White Sox has been exposed this season for the most part.
Part of the reason that they have been exposed is the lack of defense behind them and the lack of offense to help keep the score at a reasonable place.
But the White Sox starting pitching rotation is far from perfect and that’s for sure. They have their problems.
They give up runs at the most inopportune times. Like the aforementioned Crochet. He gave up two home run blasts to the Phillies the other night. That pretty much sealed the loss for the White Sox knowing that they don’t have the offense to come back from that. The pitchers must do their part to help stem the tide of scoring by the opposing teams to give the Sox a chance at winning games.
Let’s face it, the whole of the White Sox is not that great. Hitters aren’t hitting. Pitchers aren’t doing that well and the defense leaves a lot to be desired. The pitchers look bad because the rest of the team looks bad. They can’t do their stuff because the rest of the team is horrible.
In going out on a limb, the starting pitching might just be the best part of the White Sox right now. They aren’t even that good but on a bad team, they are the best of the bad. While they need to get more out of the starting rotation, the offense is where the bulk of the problems lie for this team. The pitching staff just doesn’t have any support from the offense.
In the last couple of days, the White Sox have sent Nastrini down to the minors (LINK) which may have been a mistake. They let him start two games, one he shined in but one he struggled in. They never let him get any kind of rhythm or continuity. The White Sox need all their good pitchers up and pitching to help them break out of this slump they are in. Nastrini was one of those good guys. He will likely be back, however.