White Sox fans have been spoiled this week with the arrival of two of the team’s top ten prospects. Left-hander Noah Schultz made his major league debut during Tuesday’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, and infielder Sam Antonacci made his just one day later. While it’s certainly exciting to see the young talent arriving in Chicago, the White Sox lost both games handily and simply have not been effective on offense so far this season. It’s this offensive struggle that makes the team’s most recent roster move puzzling.
Prior to Wednesday evening’s game against the Rays, the White Sox added Antonacci to the roster and designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment. Harris, 26, was 3-for-12 with four walks and a .771 OPS in six games for the White Sox this season. With a career .732 OPS, Harris represented at least a serviceable option to fill in with a couple White Sox outfielders on the shelf. With Antonacci’s arrival, the team had a decision to make about which player to let go, and they chose Harris instead of Tristan Peters or Luisangel Acuna, which made me do a double-take.
Dustin Harris says, "MINE"
— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) April 12, 2026
WHAT A CATCH 💪 pic.twitter.com/vEpHPEwdPC
I’m not saying Dustin Harris is an all-star level player or even above average, but he simply can’t be worse than what Peters and Acuna have provided so far. In 16 games this season, Peters has a .529 OPS with one extra base hit. His 11.1% hard-hit rate is the lowest qualified mark in baseball, and he ranks below average in just about every offensive metric in the book. Defensively, he plays all three outfield spots, but he’s not much more than average out there, so his versatility isn’t as big of an asset as it could be. For Luisangel Acuna, the numbers are even worse. It seems like Chris Getz and the White Sox valued defensive versatility over any kind of offensive ability. With a current team batting average under .200, that feels backwards to me.
The White Sox recent trend has prioritized versatility over ability
The White Sox have made a point of acquiring several players who can play multiple positions, which in theory is great. The problem has been that most of these players simply aren’t good hitters, and it’s bringing the entire lineup down. The White Sox lineup was fun at the end of last season and was supposed to be fun this year, but they simply have too many bad hitters playing regularly. The return of Kyle Teel and Austin Hays will help a little bit, but the team just doesn’t have its priorities straight when it comes to talent acquisition. Lenyn Sosa’s trade this week is an example. Sosa certainly has his flaws, but he led the White Sox in home runs and RBIs in 2025, and he barely saw the field during the opening stretch before being shipped to Toronto for a rookie ball lottery ticket. It was clear the team prioritized defense over offense.
Luisangel Acuna represents another example. Chris Getz couldn’t stop talking about how excited he was to land such a versatile player. But anyone paying attention knew it was a significant offensive downgrade from Luis Robert Jr, and Acuna’s versatility and speed mean very little if he can’t get on base or play those defensive positions particularly well. Yet the White Sox continue to give him regular at bats. To be honest, they don’t have much of a choice. There are very few reinforcements coming via the farm system in the outfield this year, and they’re simply not going to trade away controllable assets to add a veteran bat at this stage. The improvements will have to come from within.
I’m not sure how long of a leash Tristan Peters and Luisangel Acuna will have at the big league level, but in my opinion, it’s already been too long. The White Sox had a chance to make the necessary move earlier this week, but instead got rid of Dustin Harris, who has looked like a serviceable big league bat in the early going. I simply don’t understand.
Hopefully, the offense will figure things out soon. It’s still April, with a lot of baseball left to be played. The White Sox made the decision to rely on these players to dig them out of their offensive slump. Whether we agree with the decision or not, they’ve made their bed and they must lie in it. But if something doesn’t change quickly, it’s going to be another very long year on the south side of Chicago.
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