Doubling the 2018 White Sox’ numbers at the halfway point

The White Sox hit the halfway point on Friday night with an 11-3 loss to the Texas Rangers. If the second half of their season resembles the first, they’ll finish with a record of 56-106. That would tie the 1970 White Sox for the most losses in a season, although it’d be just the third-worst season in terms of winning percentage.

As you can imagine, doubling the individual stat lines to show the kind of full-season numbers White Sox players can accomplish … well, it isn’t all that scintillating. Nevertheless, we press on.

(Note: WAR is Baseball-Reference.com’s version except for catchers, which uses Baseball Prospectus’ WARP to incorporate framing.)

Position players

G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS WAR
Omar Narvaez 86 272 14 60 16 0 2 20 0 4 28 52 .250 .328 .342 .670 -1.0
Jose Abreu 158 688 78 168 54 0 24 94 2 0 40 128 .268 .323 .468 .791 1.6
Yoan Moncada 146 642 72 130 32 6 20 68 16 4 54 230 .223 .291 .402 .693 2.0
Tim Anderson 158 618 86 140 18 4 26 66 34 10 46 154 .248 .312 .433 .744 3.6
Yolmer Sanchez 154 638 62 152 26 16 10 70 16 4 32 118 .257 .304 .405 .709 3.4
Nick Delmonico 74 270 20 52 8 2 2 14 2 2 32 48 .224 .333 .302 .635 -0.2
Adam Engel 144 472 48 90 16 4 4 32 20 4 26 122 .211 .275 .296 .570 0.6
Daniel Palka 104 368 40 82 16 6 14 48 4 2 24 112 .238 .288 .442 .730 -1.2
Matt Davidson 124 512 54 94 22 0 26 64 0 0 72 188 .219 .336 .451 .787 2.0
Leury Garcia 92 306 26 82 8 4 4 30 18 0 10 68 .285 .322 .382 .704 1.8
Welington Castillo 66 246 24 62 10 0 12 30 0 0 12 66 .267 .309 .466 .774 0.6
Avisail Garcia 52 216 20 52 6 2 6 16 0 2 0 56 .248 .259 .381 .640 -0.6
Charlie Tilson 62 210 14 52 2 2 0 14 4 6 16 32 .280 .340 .312 .652 -1.2
Kevan Smith 30 120 14 40 4 0 0 10 2 0 2 12 .345 .367 .379 .746 0.8
Jose Rondon 44 104 16 24 6 0 6 12 4 0 6 32 .245 .288 .490 .778 0.4

Five takeaways:

No. 1: The 2009 White Sox were the last team to not have a 30-homer hitter. Paul Konerko led the way with 28, Jermaine Dye collapsed in the second half and topped out at 27, and injuries limited Jim Thome to 107 games and 23 homers.

No. 2: The only time a White Sox team failed to carry a hitter with an .800 OPS was 1968, when Pete Ward led the team with a .720 OPS. That was good for a 115 OPS+ in the Year of the Pitcher. If I included Matt Skole on this list, he’d have a .930 OPS, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be likely to add to the four games he played.

No. 3: Abreu can set the team record for doubles in a season. Albert Belle holds that record with 48 in 1998. That’s good!

No. 4: Yoan Moncada can set the MLB record for strikeouts in a season. Mark Reynolds holds that record with 223, with Adam Dunn one behind with the White Sox record at 222. That’s bad, although Joey Gallo actually leads the league in strikeouts with 116.

No. 5: I like the idea of Tim Anderson leading the team in runs, because that means he’s making stuff happen. Maybe another player should have a higher number than 86, but that’s not Anderson’s fault.

Pitchers

W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP ERA+ WAR
James Shields 6 18 4.29 36 34 0 214 184 114 102 24 82 146 6 12 94 2.0
Reynaldo Lopez 6 10 3.73 32 32 0 188 162 90 78 22 78 134 12 6 108 3.0
Lucas Giolito 10 14 6.59 32 32 0 169.1 166 128 124 26 102 102 20 16 61 -2.0
Dylan Covey 6 6 4.82 18 18 0 93.1 102 62 50 12 46 72 2 4 84 -0.2
Carson Fulmer 4 8 8.07 18 16 0 64.2 74 64 58 16 48 58 10 4 51 -2.0
Joakim Soria 0 4 2.70 62 0 22 60 54 22 18 4 12 66 2 0 151 1.2
Chris Volstad 2 8 4.20 52 2 0 81.1 98 40 38 16 16 50 2 2 97 0.8
Bruce Rondon 4 6 6.66 58 0 2 51.1 58 42 38 2 38 70 2 10 61 -1.4
Nate Jones 4 4 2.55 54 0 8 49.1 40 22 14 6 28 54 6 2 160 0.6
Luis Avilan 4 0 3.75 72 0 0 48 48 26 20 4 20 54 0 2 109 0.2
Hector Santiago 4 6 4.70 50 14 0 122.2 126 66 64 22 74 96 6 0 86 0.8
Carlos Rodon 2 4 3.70 8 8 0 48.2 40 24 20 8 14 38 6 4 111 1.0
Jace Fry 0 2 1.88 48 0 2 48 24 12 10 2 18 62 0 6 218 2.0
Aaron Bummer 0 2 3.26 52 0 0 38.2 54 22 14 0 12 42 2 8 126 0.0
Juan Minaya 0 4 4.50 28 0 0 28 22 16 14 0 26 38 2 8 92 0.0
Xavier Cedeno 0 0 0 22 0 0 18.2 6 0 0 0 8 26 0 2 ∞ 1.2
Matt Davidson 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 ∞ 0.0

Five takeaways:

No. 1: James Shields is doing some serious innings-eating, if nothing else. Like Jose Quintana last year, it seems unlikely that he’ll get to that number, at least with the White Sox.

No. 2: Lucas Giolito would set the team record for HBPs in a season. Chris Sale holds that mark with 17 in his final season on the South Side.

No. 3: Last year was the first time in franchise history the White Sox failed to throw a complete game. This year would make it two in a row.

No. 4: Chris Volstad’s innings total is probably the biggest indicator that things went awry with the White Sox’ pitching depth.

No. 5: At least the White Sox aren’t threatening the franchise record for team ERA anymore. They were at 5.42 in mid-May, one-hundredth of a point higher than the all-time worst, set by the 1934 White Sox. They’re now at 4.66, which would be a more ordinary kind of bad if it weren’t augmented by a ton of unearned runs.

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
Jim Margalus
Jim Margalus

Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

Articles: 3781
8 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
WestEddy

Carson Fulmer making it back to the majors to start again might be a good thing. Putting up the same numbers as before isn’t.

0
Gutteridge70

Jim if you have a heart you will stop bringing up the ghosts of my deprived Sox baseball childhood. Next you talk about Pete Ward’s adventures playing right field. You are stating to give me flashbacks !

0
PauliePaulie

I completely understand that the talent is lacking. But with #’s like those, at what point should Steverson start being concerned about job security?

0
sgp2204

A long, long time ago. He may be doing some important things behind the scenes, but the approaches he’s putting together with most of these guys are not working. I still have absolutely 0 clue what pitch Moncada is looking for when he goes up to the plate. I can’t stand watching him take so many fastballs right down the middle to start at-bats. I don’t know if he’s guessing pitch type, location, or both, but whatever it is isn’t working and needs to be adjusted. I’d also like to see some semblance of a 2-strike approach. With his speed, I’d like to see him choking up and just trying to punch the ball through the infield at this point. Once he starts making somewhat consistent contact, he can go back to his normal swing with 2-strikes. 

0
seven11

When will Robin, er I mean Rickey, drop Yoan in the order?

0
sgp2204

He already does against lefties. 

And getting him more at-bats is far more important than putting him 9th so the team has a 1% better chance of winning games. 

2
asinwreck

Matt Davidson still has a shot at double-digit holds for this bullpen.

0
ParisSox

This is bigly fugly. 

0