Depth exhausted, White Sox offense now needs its fixtures functioning

May 19, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago White Sox left fielder Jake Lamb (23) returns to the dugout after scoring against the Minnesota Twins in the sixth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

If there’s ever a capital-S Story to be told about the 2021 White Sox, a chapter must be devoted to the chain of guys who weren’t expected to be a major component of the plans and offered immediate production. Each time one appeared to be on the verge of running out of gas, somebody else showed up take the baton and sprint away with it.

You can tie together four such players without overlapping dates:

PlayerDatesPAH2B3BHRRBIAVG/OBP/SLGfWAR
Mercedes4/1-5/121174161521.376/.419/.5871.1
Lamb5/13-6/1145122047.293/.356/.6340.4
Goodwin6/12-7/166156038.268/.369/.5360.6
Burger7/2-7/1727103113.400/.444/.7200.5
Total255781721339.338/.398/.5972.6

That doesn’t include Gavin Sheets, whose best stretch tied together Goodwin and Burger. It also doesn’t include Billy Hamilton’s sporadic heroics, or the hot streaks from late-arriving semi-regulars like Leury García, Andrew Vaughn and Adam Engel.

Now there are at least two obvious problems with this analysis. The first is that they’re not limited to the same roster spot, and players like Mercedes and Goodwin were/are receiving regular plate appearances during the regression periods that aren’t covered. It’s two levels of cherry-picking, when usually one is too many.

The other is that no such hero has stepped up since July 17.

Here’s a case where two negatives make a positive, at least when it comes to the validity of this whole exercise. You can’t quite say the Sox pieced together the equivalent of a 5 WAR player from spare parts and duct tape, but the absence of such a heater at the start of the second half helps explain why the White Sox are 9-11 and have scored three or fewer runs in 12 of those games.

The deep-cut heroics have been limited to random outbursts, like Seby Zavala’s three-homer game that looks like somebody set the difficulty level to “toddler” before kicking it back up to “All-Star.” Take out that 4-for-4, and he’s 4-for-34.

With Sheets cooling off (usually a good thing in the summer, but not here), Goodwin fully regressed and Burger and Hamilton on the IL, the attention turns to the guys who were supposed to be here all along. Few of them are playing at their best in the second half:

  • César Hernández: .318/.423/.318 over 26 PA
  • Andrew Vaughn: .290/.362/.452 over 69 PA
  • José Abreu: .209/.329/.507 over 79 PA
  • Adam Engel: .205/.327/.341 over 52 PA
  • Leury García: .143/.263/.184 over 57 PA
  • Tim Anderson: .250/.260/.487 over 77 PA
  • Yoán Moncada: .197/.247/.407 over 81 PA
  • Eloy Jiménez: .136/.174/.318 over 23 PA

The good news is there’s plenty of room for improvement, especially once Jiménez settles in and stops swinging at two-thirds of the pitches thrown his way. The bad news is that they’re hard to watch until improvement happens, and it’s iffy counting on Luis Robert and Yasmani Grandal hitting the ground hitting whenever they’re able to return to the lineup.

Fortunately, the 9½-game cushion offers plenty of runway for struggling and rusty hitters to take off. Also, Lamb is back from the injured list to see if he can summon a second wind. It’s not going to happen immediately because the Sox play the next three in a National League park, but every option is welcome.

(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports)

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GrinnellSteve

Who went down to make room for Lamb?

GrinnellSteve

Thanks. Makes sense for the moment.

Brett R. Bobysud

Was it Josh who posted the stats that seem to indicate Moncada’s issue is he’s being too patient at the plate?

calcetinesblancos

Not sure about a more in-depth analysis, but he does love watching those first pitch fastballs sail right down the pipe. Jermaine Dye would be proud.

As Cirensica

I am a bit puzzled to see Cesar Hndz so low in today’s lineup. Guy has been one of the consistent OBP hitters lately.

Right Size Wrong Shape

Hitting in front of the pitcher can be a tricky business, and I’m guessing TLR doesn’t trust the patience of many of his hitters to put in that spot.

Also probably doesn’t want to have Seby hit right in front of the pitcher and create a potential 2-man void at the bottom of the lineup.

joewho112

Plus Hernandez can steal bases while the pitcher strikes out bunting

As Cirensica

I see, putting a high OBP guy in front of the pitcher means the pitcher will bunt for the so called “productive out” rather than have him swinging for the “unproductive out”.

I rather have the power hitting guys to hit with guys on the bases though.

RaydrsNapoleon

Love your writing and this article is a great take, but “Fortunately… Lamb is back…” ugh, just ouch. We’re really not quite there are we? Please no.

Right Size Wrong Shape

I agree. His hitting is usually fine, and it can’t be worse than what we’ve been seeing the last few weeks.

As Cirensica

Lamb replacing Sheets is fine for now. I do like Sheets but his “rookieness” was showing up lately.

Brett R. Bobysud

If I may offer some additional stats that seem to do a pretty good job of identifying when things started to go south offensively, particularly for Tim, Yoan, & Jose, I give you the following:

Slash lines from 7/16 – 7/21
Anderson: .346/.370/.846
Abreu: .308/.379/.846
Moncada: .346/.393/.808

Slash lines from 7/23 – 8/5:
Anderson: .200/.200/.300
Abreu: .146/.300/.293
Moncada: .120/.170/.200

The second timeframe runs from the start of the Brewers series to the present. It’s worth remembering how silly the Brewers staff made all 3 guys look throughout the entirety of that series and it doesn’t seem like any of them have been able to rebound (although HRs in back-to-back games for Abreu may be a sign he’s about to bust out of it).

joewho112

I wouldn’t mind using Lamb to give Moncada a couple days off. Yoan always feels like the walking wounded.

calcetinesblancos

Yeah, I really don’t understand with how easily he gets hurt and how sick he was last season why they didn’t have Lamb playing 3rd more often against RHP. If anyone needs to be kept fresh it’s Yoan.

roke1960

You hit the nail on the head, Brett. If those three don’t hit, the Sox don’t have much of a chance, even if Eloy, Robert and Grandal come back strong.

jhomeslice

Hitting can be contagious, as can slumps. Abreu showing some good signs past 2 games. Useless to worry about all of it… if those 3 hit worse than Eaton, then yes this team is doomed. Fortunately the likelihood of that is close to zero over a longer time frame.

mikeyb

How bad can the offense really be when we’ve got a guy with a 1.000 OPS batting 9th today?

LamarHoyt_oncrack

On the flip side with Zavala, take out the 4 for 34 and he is the best catcher ever.