Name: Aaron Rowand
Rank: 13
Position: CF
Years With White Sox: 2001-2005
Aaron Rowand joined the White Sox organization in 1998, selected in the first round of the draft. He earned his first call up to the show on June 15, 2001 and made his major league debut the following day, pinch hitting and lining out to end an 8-2 loss to the Cardinals. He ended the season hitting .293, fourth amongst rookies in the American League.
An off-season dirt bike accident looked to derail Rowand’s 2002 season, but he recovered enough to appear in 126 games, hitting .258 with 7 home runs and taking over as the starting center fielder following the mid-season trade of Kenny Lofton. Rowand earned a return trip to Triple A in 2003 after hitting .133 in his first 60 games, but after a little more than a month, he returned to the big leagues, hitting .387 the rest of the way and ending the season with a .287 average.
2004 was a breakout year for Rowand. A full time starter for the first time, Rowand appeared in 140 games, setting career highs with a .310 average and .905 OPS. He also managed 24 home runs and 24 doubles. He finished the year with 5.7 WAR, the seventh highest total in the American League.
The good times continued in 2005, for both Rowand and the White Sox. In 157 games, Rowand hit .270 with 13 home runs. Defensively, he committed only 3 errors in 394 chances, giving him the seventh highest defensive WAR in the American League. Rowand went 4 for 10 against the Red Sox in the ALDS, driving in 2 runs and scoring 3 more in the 3 game sweep. In the ALCS against the Angels, Rowand managed only 3 hits in the 5 game series, all doubles. He bounced back in the World Series, going 5-17 against the Astros as the White Sox won their first title in 88 years.
Less than a month after the final out of the World Series, Rowand was traded, along with Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood, to the Phillies for Jim Thome.
Rowand’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
| BA | At Bats | Runs | Hits | RBI | Walks | Strike Outs | Doubles | Triples | HR | SB | GIDP | Errors | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.301 | 166 | 23 | 50 | 29 | 15 | 30 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 53 |
| 0.283 | 1647 | 255 | 466 | 211 | 96 | 310 | 97 | 9 | 54 | 38 | 33 | 16 | 579 |