Month in a Box: The White Sox in April 2025

When the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol, he had the worst winning percentage of any manager in franchise history, regardless of sample size. The previous mark was .333, held jointly by Ed Walsh, whose team lost two of three, and Les Moss, whose White Sox went 12-24. Grifol plummeted past them as he approached his fourth half of managing the White Sox. When Chris Getz was finally able to pull the plug, Grifol's winning percentage dropped all the way to .319 (89-190).

Yet Grifol no longer holds that record, and he won't as long as Grady Sizemore's interim tenure is set in stone. The Sox closed out the 2024 season 12-32 under Sizemore, good for a .289 winning percentage. Then Grifol dropped into bronze position in April, because Will Venable came out with a .233 winning percentage in his first month.

A 7-23 April sets the pace for a 38-win season over the course of 162 games, yet it feels like the arrow is pointing ever so slightly up. Given the depths to which the White Sox have sunk, you first have to account for the possibility that the 2024 season was so severely disorienting that we're no longer capable of discerning better from worse.

But if you can temporarily set aside the record, there are indicators that these White Sox are merely an ordinary kind of bad. They finished April with a run differential of -32, while last year's team was at -79 at the same point in the season. The position players are roughly a replacement-level form of unproductive, not historically abysmal.

Venable is certainly a more active manager than Grifol, but he's also handling a far different roster. Grifol inherited a clubhouse full of underperforming fixtures in the middle of a culture collapse, and seemed terrified to make any move that would risk directly antagonizing a veteran ... except then he lost their respect in other ways. Venable comes off as a lot more secure with his attempts to solve problems, but that could very well be the result of handling a roster that's inherently amorphous, rather than one that's coasting on the final fumes of prospect pedigrees and a years-old division title.

The month of May will give us more fodder for determining Venable's initial efficacy. For the time being, here's April in a Box.

WHITE SOX TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Record: 7-23
• Standings: Fifth, 11½ GB
• Longest winning streak: 2, April 11-12
• Longest losing streak: 8, April 1-10
• Largest margin of victory: 10, April 11
• Largest margin of defeat: 9, April 15

HITTING LEADERS

• Batting average: .269, Lenyn Sosa
• On-base percentage: .391, Matt Thaiss
• Slugging percentage: .427, Andrew Benintendi
• wRC+: 125, Thaiss
• Home runs: 5, Andrew Benintendi
• RBI: 13, Brooks Baldwin
• Walks: 17, Luis Robert Jr.
• Strikeouts: 37, Robert
• Stolen bases: 12, Robert
• fWAR: 0.6, Thaiss

PITCHING LEADERS

• Wins: 1, Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Brandon Eisert, Tyler Gilbert, Davis Martin, Martín Pérez, Shane Smith
• Losses: 4, Burke
• ERA: 2.23, Smith
• Innings: 33⅓, Martin
• Strikeouts: 27, Cannon
• Appearances: 14, Penn Murfee
• Relief innings: 16⅓, Mike Vasil
• fWAR: 0.7, Smith

COMING AND GOING

• White Sox debuts: Cam Booser, Bobby Dalbec, Brandon Eisert, Tyler Gilbert, Travis Jankowski, Greg Jones, Nick Maton, Chase Meidroth, Penn Murfee, Joshua Palacios, Martín Perez, Edgar Quero, Austin Slater, Shane Smith, Mike Tauchman, Michael A. Taylor, Matt Thaiss, Mike Vasil, Bryse Wilson, Gage Workman
• White Sox departures: Jake Eder, Jankowski
• Going up: Jones, Palacios, Omar Narváez, Meidroth, Eisert, Steven Wilson, Jared Shuster, Dalbec
• Going down: Jankowski, Eisert, Mike Clevinger, Jones, Narváez, Maton, Gilbert

#SOXMORGUE

• Mike Tauchman: Right hamstring strain
• Josh Rojas: Righ toe fracture
• Tyler Gilbert: Left knee bursitis
• Andrew Benintendi: Left adductor strain
• Korey Lee: Left ankle sprain
• Mike Tauchman: Right hamstring strain
• Fraser Ellard: Right hamstring strain
• Austin Slater: Right knee meniscus tear
• Martín Perez: Left flexor strain
• Chase Meidroth: Right thumb inflammation

White Sox Honors

Most Valuable Player: Edgar Quero

Quero didn't accumulate enough plate appearances to qualify as a regular in the leaderboards above, but that's only because he didn't debut until April 17. Lower the plate appearances threshold to 44, and he would've led the White Sox in two of three slash categories by hitting .306/.432/.361, and that approach held up with runners in scoring position, too. Beyond the production, Quero's smooth transition to the majors gave the White Sox's position-player side of the roster a sorely needed shot of significance and staying power.

Least Valuable Player: Andrew Vaughn

Tim Elko became a very popular White Sox prospect over the second half of April, partially because he hit a homer damn near every game for Charlotte, and partially because Vaughn got off to another miserable start. He hit just .162/.203/.270 over 118 plate appearances, which, combined with his defense and baserunning, made him the least valuable regular in the majors according to FanGraphs (-1.0, ahead of Michael Massey's -0.8).

Most Valuable Pitcher: Shane Smith

If somebody told you that a Rule 5 pick would be the White Sox's most valuable pitcher in April, you'd probably expect a disaster from the rest of the rotation. That's not really the case here. In his first month in the majors, Smith posted a 2.23 ERA while completing at least five innings in five of six starts, and came up one out short in the other one. Just about all the damage he allowed came at the end of his outings, and while he has to work on maintaining his stamina beyond 70 pitches, he's doing his part over the first half of games better than anybody could have possibly expected.

Least Valuable Pitcher: Sean Burke

Burke finished the month with a 6.00 ERA, even though he opened the season with six scoreless innings in March. He allowed 22 runs over the 21 innings that followed, perhaps due in part to a knee that absorbed a comebacker in his second outing. Let's see if the opener in Sacramento, and a little more time to heal, make a difference in his second month.

Fire Man: Steven Wilson

Considering Wilson went unclaimed after being designated for assignment in the spring, he could've sat down and had himself a three-month cry. Instead, he dusted himself off and responded with his best pitching in a White Sox uniform. He was called up on April 17 to replace Mike Clevinger, and he allowed just one single and three walks over 6⅓ innings. To hear Wilson tell it, his mechanics were a mess when the Padres offered him up in the Dylan Cease trade, and he’s tracking closer to his old self after an offseason overhaul.

Gas Can: Penn Murfee

As satisfying as it would be to hand this to Clevinger, Murfee was just as ineffective with a matching 7.94 ERA, but Murfee amassed double the workload. While Clevinger got himself in trouble with walks, Murfee's opponents hit their way on, and in bunches when things weren't working (17 over 11⅓ innings, including four doubles and two homers).

Bench Player: Nobody? Anybody?

Between injuries and the inherent limitations of the healthy players, the White Sox have blurred the line of demarcation between starter and reserve. Twenty-two different players have come to the plate for the Sox this season, which is three more than the team with the next-highest amount of churn. Nick Maton and Michael A. Taylor seem like bench players, but they're eighth and ninth in plate appearances. Jake Amaya is 10th, but he's also leading in playing time at shortstop. Joshua Palacios? 11th, but he started more often than not after the White Sox called him up. Same with Edgar Quero (12th) and Chase Meidroth (13th). If somebody's hitting, they're playing. If they're not hitting, they may also be playing, because the guy who was hitting tweaked something.

Stench Player: Nobody? Anybody?

See above.

Gold Glove: Miguel Vargas

Vargas came out of the gate ice-cold at the plate, but against considerable odds, his defense at third base bought him time. He finished 1 run/out above average according to both leading defensive metrics, thanks to an ability to make more nuanced plays than he was capable of last year.

Hands of Stone: Brooks Baldwin

If I were running the White Sox, I'd play Baldwin at shortstop most days, then move him into a utility role once somebody else started outplaying him at that position. Management doesn't see any point in delaying the inevitable, and so Will Venable is playing Baldwin at a bunch of positions and hoping his athleticism and his collegiate experience will eventually prevail. Right now, he's grading out below average at the three places he's spent the most time, so the only points he's getting for his versatility are of the brownie variety.

Timeline

Grand opening: Nicky Lopez's return to non-guaranteed Rate Field comes on the mound, as he pitches the final inning because the White Sox romped over the Angels on Opening Day, 8-1. (March 27)

Revenge Game No. 1: Yoán Moncada drives in the only run of the Angels' 1-0 victory over the White Sox with a comebacker off Mike Clevinger. (March 29)

Tarp terrors: A sudden storm bringing rain, wind and hail strikes Rate Field, with an intensity that prevents the grounds crew from being able to cover the entire infield during the top of the eighth inning against the Angels. The area around first base takes on three inches of water and requires 175 bags of drying compound, according to Roger Bossard. (March 30)

Regrets, kinda: Looking back on his White Sox career, Tim Anderson tells James that playing through a knee injury in 2023 threw him off course, and had he known how the White Sox enterprise was going to collapse, he would've chosen a different course. (March 31)

Specific history: With six no-hit innings against Minnesota, Martín Pérez joins Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon and Davis Martin in throwing five innings or more without an earned run, which is something only three other teams had accomplished over the first four games of the season, at least since the earned run became a stat in 1913. (March 31)

The first Schriffen Minute: John Schriffen creates his first social media kerfuffle of the season when he says the popular Twitter/YouTube account Pitching Ninja "won't be his source" for pitching info. Schriffen apologized for a misunderstanding, as he said he was referring to his departure from Twitter, not the quality of Rob Friedman's output. (April 1)

Crochet gets paid: Garrett Crochet signs the extension of his dreams with the Boston Red Sox for six years and $170 million. (April 1)

Thaiss is right: It's not quite Cody Bellinger on Brooks Baldwin, but Matt Thaiss somehow avoids being out by 40 feet on a Justin Jirschele send because Dillon Dingler dropped the ball on what should've been a leisurely tag. (April 4)

Cold water: Bob Nightengale tells White Sox fans that despite Justin Ishbia's collection of minority shares, Jerry Reinsdorf has no interest in selling controlling interest of the team. (April 5)

Walking it off: Mike Clevinger starts the ninth inning of a scoreless game in Cleveland by dropping a throw from Lenyn Sosa, then walking the next three batters to force home the only run in a 1-0 walk-off loss to the Guardianns. (April 8)

Tauchman burner overload: Mike Tauchman's meddlesome hamstring gives way on him between third and home, preventing him from scoring the tying run with two outs against Emmanuel Clase in a 3-2 loss in Cleveland. (April 9)

Winless road trip: With a 6-1 loss to the Guardians, the White Sox finish 0-6 on their first road trip of the season to Detroit and Cleveland. (April 10)

Ouch: In his return to Rate Field, Garrett Crochet tells reporters that being traded to Boston "felt like the big leagues, you know?" (April 11)

Future Hall of Famer: In his MLB debut against the team that traded him, Chase Meidroth goes 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored. He's the first player to have that line in his first game since Larry Walker in 1989, and the White Sox torch the Red Sox 11-1 to snap an eight-game skid. (April 11)

Walking the talk: Crochet flirts with a no-hitter in his first game against the team that drafted him, carrying it into the eighth inning before Meidroth of all people breaks it up with a single. Crochet serves as the stopper to avoid an embarrassing sweep in Chicago. (April 13)

Cleaved: After anointing him their best high-leverage option at the end of spring training for reasons that don't hold water outside of the White Sox front office, Mike Clevinger is designated for assignment. Because the White Sox are still his best opportunity, Clevinger accepted the assignment to the minors, even though he had accrued enough service time to reject it. (April 16)

An F against the A's: With an 8-0 victory, the Athletics sweep the White Sox in a three-game series by a combined score of 23-4. It almost ends with an immaculate inning by Jason Alexander, but what should've been a called strike on an 0-2 count with two outs goes the White Sox's way. (April 17)

One for the road: Will Venable picks up his first road victory on his ninth try after the White Sox double up the Red Sox 8-4 in Boston. (April 20)

Buxton, of course: The White Sox's dreams of erasing a 4-1 deficit against Jhoan Duran at Target Field die in the glove of Byron Buxton, who flags down Andrew Benintendi's deep drive to right center with a flourish for the final out, which extends the White Sox's losing streak in Minneapolis to 13 games. (April 22)

Saved by the rain: It takes 25 games, but the White Sox finally record their first and only save of April. It's accidentally by Brandon Eisert, who pitches the seventh and final inning before rain cancels the rest. In the process, the Target Field losing streak ends at 14, and with their second win against the Twins in 2025, the White Sox beat last year's record against them. (April 24)

Technology is cyclical: The Chicago Sun-Times reports that, with the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks unable to strike a deal with Comcast to distribute CHSN on Xfinity, WGN is interested picking up some broadcasts to get them to those customers. (April 25)

Miller, timed: Brooks Baldwin puts the first runs on Mason Miller's tab in 2025 with a two-run shot in the ninth inning, but it only serves to turn a 6-3 game into a one-run loss in the opener in Sacramento. (April 25)

The Rule 5 3: The White Sox add a third Rule 5 pick to their roster by purchasing Gage Workman from the Cubs. (April 26)

The opener succeeds: After Tyler Gilbert's scoreless first inning, Jonathan Cannon comes out one short of taking it the rest of the way. His 7⅔ innings make for the longest relief appearance by a White Sox pitcher since Melido Perez in 1991. (April 26)

Sacrament-oh no: Jordan Leasure gives up a two-run walk-off homer on a first-pitch fastball to Luis Urías to blow a 10th-inning save and deny the White Sox their chance at a second series victory, losing to the Athletics 3-2. (April 27)

Colson goes west: The White Sox announce that Colson Montgomery will be removed from the Charlotte roster and head to Arizona for 1-for-1 work with hitting director Ryan Fuller in order to right the ship after starting his season hitting .149/.223/.255 with a 41.7 percent strikeout rate. (April 29)