The Chicago White Sox have been around for 119 seasons and in their long history, it always seems that third base has always been a problem with a few exceptions. Pete Ward in 1964 had a 6.3 bWAR season according to Baseball-Reference which is the franchise single-season high mark. Robin Ventura is the all-time leader in bWAR for White Sox third basemen accumulating 39.4 WAR over ten seasons. If not for the 1994 strike season, Ventura was on his way of 4+ WAR seasons stretching from 1991 to 1996 (In ‘94, Ventura had a 3.0 WAR). After missing significant time in 1997 with a nasty leg injury, Ventura’s bounced back with a 5.8 bWAR season in 1998, which was his last year with the White Sox before departing to play for the New York Mets.
More than two decades later, the White Sox have yet to find a third baseman to perform better than Ventura did in 1998. According to FanGraphs, the White Sox have the lowest cumulative fWAR total for third basemen since 1999 at 30.1 fWAR. The St. Louis Cardinals have the highest fWAR the past 20 seasons at 90.0 fWAR.
Sure, Joe Crede had an excellent season in 2006 and is a good “What If?” story if he didn’t suffer back issues. Bill Melton had a terrific 1971 campaign hitting 33 home runs on his way to a 5.7 WAR. For the Sporcle fans, Willie Kamm had excellent seasons in the 20’s posting a 5.1 WAR in 1926.
Despite the highlights, the White Sox only had 65 seasons where the starting third baseman had a WAR of 2.0 or higher (54.6%) and only 36 seasons with a 3.0 WAR or higher (30.2%). The average offensive performance from White Sox third baseman is a slash line of .265/.334/.388.
In 2019, we are witnessing one of those 3 WAR seasons at the hot corner from Yoan Moncada. In his first year at the position, Moncada has made the White Sox front office look very smart moving him off second base. In just 101 games this season, Moncada is having the 25th best season ever in White Sox third basemen history at 3.2 WAR and has a chance to improve that mark with 32 games left in the season. It's just remarkable progress made by the 24-year old.
What’s more eye-opening is that Moncada is arguably having the best offensive season for any White Sox third baseman in franchise history.
Using OPS+, a metric to formulate offensive production by taking a player’s on-base and slugging percentage while accounting for league and park factors, Melton and Ward shared the honors for the best offensive season before 2019. In 1963, Ward hit 34 doubles and 22 home runs with a slash line of .295/.353/.482 on his way to a 134 OPS+. Eight seasons later, Melton slugged his way to the same OPS+.
Ventura in 1995 hit .295/.384/.498 with 26 home runs for a 132 OPS+ season. Part of the famous South Side Hit Men squad, Eric Soderholm had a 129 OPS+ year in 1977 hitting .280/.350/.500 with 25 home runs.
| Rk | Player | Year | OPS+ | G | Age |
| 1 | Yoan Moncada | 2019 | 136 | 101 | 24 |
| 2 | Bill Melton | 1971 | 134 | 150 | 25 |
| 3 | Pete Ward | 1963 | 134 | 157 | 25 |
| 4 | Robin Ventura | 1995 | 132 | 135 | 27 |
| 5 | Eric Soderholm | 1977 | 129 | 130 | 28 |
| 6 | Pete Ward | 1964 | 129 | 144 | 26 |
| 7 | Tony Cuccinello | 1945 | 129 | 118 | 37 |
| 8 | Al Smith | 1961 | 128 | 147 | 33 |
| 9 | Robin Ventura | 1996 | 127 | 158 | 28 |
| 10 | Robin Ventura | 1992 | 127 | 157 | 24 |
If 2019 were to end today, Moncada would best them all. As of August 26, Moncada is hitting .300/.356/.545 with 23 doubles and 22 home runs giving him a 136 OPS+.
His slugging percentage is the best ever for a White Sox third baseman and is 25 points better than what Ventura mashed in 1996. Only 13 White Sox third basemen who played at least 100 games in a season have finished with a batting average above .300. Moncada's on track for 27 homers in 2019, which would place Moncada eighth-most hit in a season for White Sox third basemen.
The White Sox for a while have struggled to find a long-term solution at third base. Maybe they got a bit lucky by moving Moncada from second base to third to see this type of success immediately after failing to sign Manny Machado. After the season, not only we could witness the best season at third base for the White Sox in the last 20 years, but also begin discussing how Moncada is a Top 10 third basemen in all of Major League Baseball.
