Austin Slater is one of the more underrated trade chips on the Chicago White Sox 26-man roster heading into this week's trade deadline.
Slater is not a household name. He has respectable, but not eye-popping numbers this season, with five (5) home runs and a .745 OPS in 119 at-bats.
That being said, Slater has been everything the White Sox hoped he'd be when they signed him to a one-year, $1.75 million contract in the offseason.
He gets limited playing time, but when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound, Slater becomes one of the most consistent hitters in baseball.
All five of Slater's home runs this season have come against left-handed pitching. He has .273 batting average and .897 OPS in 66 at-bats against lefties. He struggles mightily against right-handers, though, with a .552 OPS this season.
Slater's career OPS against lefties is .801, but his poor play against right-handers drops his overall OPS to .729 over a nine-year MLB career.
Trading Austin Slater won't create a bunch of headlines at the deadline, but if a contending team needs help against left-handed pitching, Slater is the perfect addition to make down the home stretch of the 2025 season. The New York Yankees seem to recognize that.
The Yankees are bad against left-handed pitching
The Yankees have a ton of talent in the outfield. Outside of the obvious stars like Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, they have gotten a career-year from Trent Grisham and up-and-down results from 22-year-old Jasson Domínguez.
New York has plenty of starting outfielders, but a few of their regulars really struggle against left-handed pitching.
Grisham has 17 home runs and an .803 OPS this season, but against lefties, his OPS drops to .610.
Domínguez has eight home runs off of right-handers this season, but has just one home run and a .591 OPS when there's a lefty on the mound.
The Yankees have interest in Austin Slater
Fittingly, the Yankees are looking to add right-handed hitting outfielders that see lefties well at the upcoming trade deadline.
Austin Slater is a name that has been discussed, according to a report from ESPN's Buster Olney.
The Yankees continue to work on adding bullpen help, according to rival evaluators, and they have talked with other teams about right-handed hitting outfielders. Former Yankee Harrison Bader is among those discussed, as well as White Sox outfielder Austin Slater.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 28, 2025
The Yankees'…
Slater would be the perfect bench bat for New York to add at the deadline, and the Yankees' farm system feels like it has what the White Sox are usually looking for.
Eric Reyzelman (No. 20), Trystan Vrieling (No. 21), Ben Shields (No. 29), and Brendan Beck (No. 30) are all pitchers towards the back of New York's Top 30 with MLB debuts estimated to come in 2026.
The White Sox could opt to trade Slater for a player with a little bit less upside to ensure they are getting a prospect that is close to having a Major League impact.