Name: Tyler Flowers
Rank: 120
Position: C
Years With White Sox: 2009-2015
Tyler Flowers came to the White Sox following the 2008 season, acquired from the Braves, along with Jon Gilmore, Santos Rodriguez, and Brent Lillibridge, for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan. Flowers performed well in 2009, splitting time between Double A Birmingham and Triple A Charlotte, hitting .297 with 15 home runs. He earned a call-up to the big leagues when rosters expanded on September 1, but his hot hitting did not follow. He appeared in 10 games for the White Sox, hitting .188 without driving in a run.
Flowers opened the 2010 season back in Charlotte, where, unfortunately, his hitting woes continued. Despite a .220 average, he got another late season call-up, this time garnering only 1 hit in 11 at bats.
Flowers returned to Charlotte to start the 2011 season, but returned to the big leagues in July when Ramon Castro went down with an injury. Flowers got a chance to start every day in August when A.J. Pierzynski got hurt, enabling him to garner both his first home run and, later in the month, his first grand slam.
2012 saw Flowers break camp with the White Sox for the first time, becoming the backup to Pierzynski. Appearing in 52 games, he managed to “raise” his average to .213, but saw his on base percentage fall below .300 for the first time in his short career. Despite the troubling offensive performance he had put up to date, the White Sox decided it was time to let Flowers take control behind the plate and they allowed A.J. Pierzynski to leave as a free agent following the season.
As the starter in 2013, Flowers continued to struggle offensively, finishing with a batting average below .200, though a shoulder injury ended his season early, limiting him to 84 games. With his shoulder recovered, he returned behind the plate as the primary receiver in 2014, appearing in 127 games and rebounding to a .241 average, though his OPS failed to break .700.
2015 was more of the same for Flowers, appearing in 112 games and struggling offensively, finishing with a .239 average and a weak .652 OPS. Following the season, the White Sox decided not to tender him a contract for 2016, and his tenure on the south side came to an end one month ago.
Flowers’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: