Andrew Benintendi was not necessarily known for being a power hitter at any point in his career. He joined the White Sox with 73 career home runs under his belt.
On Thursday, he hit his fourth of the season and now has 77 in his career. Obviously, those numbers are down from his career totals.
He didn't hit his first of the season until June 16th against the Seattle Mariners so it took a couple of months. Getting that first one though was sure to get the power numbers up a little bit though.
That didn't really happen for him for a while. He didn't hit his second home run until July 21st. It took over a month but this lead-off home run was great to see.
Andrew Benintendi has been a pretty consistent player for the White Sox.
Again, it took him a month plus one day to hit his third on August 22nd. This one came against the Seattle Mariners again so he now has two on the season against them.
You figured that it would take about another month for him to hit his fourth but that is not the case. He is clearly having a bit of a power surge as he hit his second home run in three nights on Thursday against the Oakland A's at home.
The home run against the A's was his third home run out of four that broke a tie which is pretty neat. It is also interesting that half of his home runs came against the Seattle Mariners.
This power surge probably isn't going to last but you'd like to see him get one or two more before the season is over. With just over a month to go in the regular season, it doesn't seem like an unfair ask.
As for the rest of his game, he is doing fine. He is playing some good left field and his bat is solid. He is slashing .277/.341/.370 for an OPS of .711. Those are not bad numbers for a contact hitter at all.
Benintendi is the highest-paid player in team history in terms of overall contract value but that is not his fault. He made with the White Sox exactly what he'd make with other teams based on his career production.
If you don't like knowing that he is the highest-paid player as this type of player, that should be taken up with the White Sox.
Hopefully, he just keeps doing what he's doing and the team puts the necessary players around him to take advantage.