The White Sox are being completely unfair to one of their young players

Prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Cardinals, the Chicago White Sox activated Lenyn Sosa from the Injured List. For the corresponding move, the team optioned utilityman Brooks Baldwin back to AAA-Charlotte just three days after recalling him.

Baldwin took just three at-bats in his second stint with the big league club, and did not start a single game.

Baldwin's minor league dominance

Before his call up, Baldwin had been on an unreal tear down in Charlotte. In 19 games since originally being optioned back on May 19th, Baldwin put up an impressive .380 batting average with 7 home runs.

While Triple-A stats don’t always carry over to the Major Leagues, it certainly felt like it was time to give Baldwin another chance. The last place White Sox can afford to give opportunities to young players, and the 24 year-old Baldwin deserved another shot to prove he belonged on a Major League roster.

Instead, the Sox opted to use Baldwin as a pinch hitter for three at-bats before sending him back down to Charlotte. 

White Sox keep Capra over Baldwin

It’s not like the Sox decision to return Baldwin to Charlotte came out of necessity either. Infielder Vinny Capra remains on the Sox roster despite struggling at the plate all season. Capra has been the primary backup to Chase Meidroth at shortstop, and the Sox have elected to keep him on the roster because of his ability to play the shortstop position.

Brooks Baldwin was drafted as a shortstop, and played there for much of his minor league career before moving around in 2025. This should be a non-issue. Even if the White Sox don’t see Brooks Baldwin as a shortstop long term, he can simply play other positions and fill in at shortstop if necessary.

There is no need to keep Capra, a 28 year-old who has never proven he can hit at the big league level, over Baldwin, who may be an actual piece of the Sox future. Capra has been getting some regular at-bats recently, starting in four of the last five games. I struggle to find any reason why he is getting those meaningful at-bats over someone like Baldwin.

Baldwin responded to being sent back down to Triple-A by hitting two home runs and a triple in his first game back with Charlotte, He now has a minor league OPS of 1.303. He has a batting average for .402 and nine (9) home runs in only 82 at-bats. What more is there for him to work on?

Baldwin's development

Not only does sending Baldwin down make little sense from a roster perspective, it’s also a head-scratcher from a development perspective.

It’s pretty clear from Baldwin’s inflated Triple-A numbers that he’s figured out how to hit minor league pitching. He has nothing more to prove in the minor leagues and he’ll never turn into a quality Major League hitter if he’s never given a chance.

An argument could be made that Baldwin should be sent to AAA to make sure he gets regular at-bats, since that may not be available to him at the MLB level right now. There is some logic in that perspective, but given Baldwin’s ability to play just about anywhere on the diamond, the White Sox could easily find a way to rotate him into the lineup 3-4 days a week. In fact, it may benefit the White Sox to rest some of their veterans and have a guy that can fill in anywhere. 

As each day passes, Brooks Baldwin makes it more and more obvious that he doesn’t belong in Charlotte. The White Sox decision to send him back down without a real opportunity is detrimental to not only the team, but to Baldwin's development as well. Hopefully the White Sox learn their lesson soon and give Brooks the opportunity he deserves.