Doubling* the 2021 White Sox’s numbers at the halfway** point

9:54 AM CDT on July 6, 2021

DETROIT, MI – JULY 02: Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Lance Lynn (33) looks for the pitch sign during the first inning of a regular season Major League Baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers on July 2, 2021 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire)

I was out of the contiguous United States when the White Sox reached the precise halfway point of the 2021 season, but I'm not going to let a mere few games get in the way of my annual 162-game-schedule tradition of extrapolating half a season into a full one to get a better idea of how individual seasons are coming together. It just requires asterisks for the pedants out there:

*Multiplying by 1.93
**84-game

As always, I've mapped out the extrapolated seasons for position players and pitchers -- bWAR for everybody except catchers, who get Baseball Prospectus' WARP. I've also included five notes for each. Feel free to point out the numbers that jump out most to you. I tried not to hog all the observations for myself.

POSITION PLAYERS

Player	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	K	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS+	GDP	HBP	WAR
Yasmani Grandal*	122	475	81	66	6	0	27	73	0	0	116	124	.188/.388/.436	130	19	2	4.8
José Abreu	151	641	83	141	23	2	29	120	2	0	54	156	.253/.331/.457	117	23	17	2.3
Nick Madrigal	104	415	58	118	19	8	4	41	2	4	21	33	.305/.349/.425	115	6	6	2.7
Tim Anderson	135	598	95	168	29	0	12	54	27	12	31	137	.298/.335/.411	107	6	2	3.3
Yoan Moncada	143	608	66	139	27	2	10	71	4	2	95	156	.278/.400/.398	124	4	10	4.2
Andrew Vaughn	135	488	68	106	33	0	15	42	4	0	39	125	.246/.312/.429	104	10	8	1.7
Luis Robert	48	199	21	58	17	2	2	15	8	2	14	54	.316/.359/.463	127	0	0	1.5
Adam Eaton	110	415	62	71	15	4	10	52	4	0	39	102	.200/.299/.346	79	10	12	0.4
Yermin Mercedes	131	506	50	125	17	2	14	71	0	2	39	89	.271/.328/.404	103	14	2	1.2
Leury Garcia	131	475	62	104	15	4	4	66	4	2	44	112	.251/.320/.335	83	10	0	2.1
Zack Collins*	85	266	27	52	17	0	6	37	2	2	33	85	.225/.321/.375	94	2	0	-0.6
Danny Mendick	93	247	23	44	6	0	4	33	0	2	29	60	.211/.315/.294	72	2	4	0.2
Jake Lamb	60	191	31	37	4	0	10	19	0	0	25	54	.224/.333/.424	109	4	2	0.4
Billy Hamilton	83	166	29	35	10	4	4	19	12	0	6	54	.225/.250/.413	80	2	0	1.0
Brian Goodwin	39	151	27	3	12	2	6	17	0	0	19	35	.254/.351/.507	135	0	0	0.6
Adam Engel	19	62	10	14	0	0	6	8	2	0	2	12	.241/313/.552	134	2	4	1.2

TAKEAWAYS

No. 1: We'll find about Yasmani Grandal's status later in the day, but chances are that he won't be available enough to come close to completing what appeared to be one of the most idiosyncratic successes in White Sox history. There's nobody who has come close to a 130 OPS+ with an average below .200, although I doubt Grandal's average would've finished the year below the Mendoza Line based on the form he showed throughout June. Even with a more normal average, he was on pace to be the first White Sox player with more than 110 walks since Frank Thomas in 2000.

No. 2: José Abreu's line looks like an aberration compared to last year's MVP form, but it couldn't be more in line with his career norms when looking at his OPS+ column over the years.

2018: 117
2019: 117
2020: 165
2021: 117

Throw in another 100+ RBI season and a league-leading total of double plays, and there might not be a season more Abreu than this one.

No. 3: You now have to round up to get Yoán Moncada's home run total to double digits for the year. In 2020, it was COVID-19. This year, it's a shoulder issue followed by a hand problem, with a sinus infection in there as well. He's once again found a way to make himself useful despite the lack of pop, most notably in the walk column, but it'd be cool if he could post a monster month before the end of the season. There are the obvious benefits, but it's more that the White Sox need to know if they've been planning around a game that's seldom going to come together.

No. 4: Leury García is back on track for a 2 WAR season despite the hellish start he and everybody else endured. Also, there hasn't been a player with fewer than five homers and more than 60 RBIs in a season since Luis Aparicio in 1960.

(Aside: I feel like 3.5 RBIs per homer marks the starting point of an aesthetically pleasing ratio between those two columns. I loved finding baseball cards where a guy had 100 RBIs with fewer than 10 homers. On the other side of that spectrum, I don't like what Jake Lamb is up to.)

No. 5: Combine Billy Hamilton and Brian Goodwin, and you basically get Adam Engel's production. It's just more useful to have that coming from one roster spot than two, because to have Goodwin's bat in the lineup, you have to endure Goodwin's routes.

PITCHERS

Name	W-L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	HBP	ERA+	WAR
Lucas Giolito	12-12	4.20	33	33	0	190	160	95	89	35	60	224	2	101	1.7
Dallas Keuchel	12-6	4.48	31	31	0	174	185	102	87	23	58	106	4	95	0.4
Lance Lynn	16-6	2.02	29	29	0	163	114	44	37	15	54	191	2	211	6.0
Carlos Rodón	12-6	2.37	27	27	0	161	102	44	42	14	50	235	12	180	5.6
Dylan Cease	14-8	4.14	33	33	0	168	147	83	77	19	71	214	12	103	1.7
Liam Hendriks	6-4	2.57	71	0	41	68	46	23	19	12	8	102	2	166	1.9
Codi Heuer	8-2	5.18	64	0	0	64	79	37	37	8	12	68	2	83	-0.4
Jose Ruiz	0-2	3.00	58	0	0	64	48	25	21	8	19	64	0	143	0.8
Aaron Bummer	2-8	3.26	62	0	4	58	50	31	21	4	33	83	2	131	0.2
Evan Marshall	0-4	5.6	52	0	0	52	54	33	33	10	17	50	0	77	-0.6
Michael Kopech	6-0	1.67	29	6	0	62	39	12	12	6	23	87	0	256	2.3
Matt Foster	4-2	6.57	46	0	0	47	58	37	35	14	17	62	4	65	-1.2
Garrett Crochet	4-8	2.81	48	0	0	49	42	21	15	2	31	62	2	153	1.0
Ryan Burr	2-0	1.93	23	2	0	28	8	4	4	2	15	23	0	362	1.4
Zack Burdi	0	6	12	0	0	17	25	14	12	6	8	12	4	73	-0.2

TAKEAWAYS

No. 1: If Lance Lynn ends up with 6 WAR or better, the White Sox basically won their half of the trade at the individual level. There's still the matter of whether the White Sox's team-wide vision holds up, but that's what veteran ballast looks like, especially when Lucas Giolito's season is mildly disappointing.

PERTINENT: What would a Lance Lynn extension with the White Sox even look like?

No. 2: Dallas Keuchel's WAR is noticeably low for 174 innings of roughly league-average ERA until you look at the total of unearned runs that's masking some issues. This might be why he's paying more attention to defensive positioning than most.

(Aside: Zack Wheeler looks like the front-runner in the NL Cy Young race, on pace for 220 innings and 10 WAR. The White Sox were right to like him.)

No. 3: You take that season from Dylan Cease. You take 235 strikeouts from Carlos Rodón and get the qualifying offer ready.

No. 4: When you look at the performance of White Sox righties, it becomes harder to see Michael Kopech avoiding confinement to the bullpen unless multiple arms materialize, whether from within or outside.

No. 5: On the subject of getting what they paid for, Liam Hendriks' season will play.

(Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire)