Tag / Yasmani Grandal

by admin

All Season Batting Leaders – Through 2025

It’s been six years since we last took a look at the offensive stat leaders per season for the all the games I’ve attended since 1984. While there hasn’t been a whole lot of movement for most of the categories in the last six seasons, I figured the time was right to take another look. So, without further ado, here’s the updated list. We start, as always, with everyone’s favorite offensive stat:

Home Runs

Year Name Total
2010 Paul Konerko 17
2004 Moises Alou 15
2004 Corey Patterson 13
2004 Sammy Sosa 13
2003 Moises Alou 12
2008 Carlos Quentin 12

Hits

Year Name Total
2003 Mark Grudzielanek 67
2004 Moises Alou 57
2003 Moises Alou 57
2007 Derrek Lee 57
2006 Orlando Cabrera 56

Runs

Year Name Total
2004 Moises Alou 44
2003 Sammy Sosa 34
2003 Tim Anderson 32
2010 Paul Konerko 31
2003 Moises Alou 30
2008 Jermaine Dye 30
2006 Tadahito Iguchi 30
2008 Nick Swisher 30

RBI

Year Name Total
2021 Jose Abreu 38
2010 Paul Konerko 35
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by admin

2023 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans with their worst record since 1970 while the Cubs teased their fanbase with expectations of the postseason before their September swoon.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 43 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 10
Jake Burger 6
Andrew Vaughn 6
Christopher Morel 4
Dansby Sawnson 4

Hits

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 39
Eloy Jimenez 29
Luis Robert 28
Andrew Vaughn 28
Elvis Andrus 27

Runs

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 21
Luis Robert 19
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by admin

What Went Wrong Again

That fateful Saturday night in Cleveland in early August certainly wasn’t where the 2023 White Sox season went off the rails.  That happened in April, when a ten-game losing streak left them fourteen games under .500 and nine games back before the first month of the season came to an end.  Or at the trading deadline, when seven players, nearly 27% of the active roster, got sent away to other teams who still had dreams of making the playoffs.  But that Saturday night, when Tim Anderson dropped his glove like a hockey player to square up with Jose Ramirez, broke open the floodgates of showing the organizational rot that has destroyed the contention window for the latest rebuild and sent the White Sox scrambling.

The clubhouse problems with the White Sox were kind of an open secret.  Dallas Keuchel made mention of it when he was released last year, but those complaints were waved off as the grumblings of a player who no longer had what it took to pitch at the major league level.  When Jose Abreu was interviewed prior to the season-opening series against his former team, he also spoke vaguely of feeling like he had finally joined a family.  Then, the day following the fight, an interview with former White Sox pitcher Kenyan Middleton, traded the week before, was posted on ESPN.com, claiming there were no rules, players were allowed to skip meetings and practice sessions with no repercussions, and rookies were found sleeping in the bullpen during games.  The next morning, Jesse Rogers, who wrote the ESPN article, appeared on the Score and went even further, saying Yoan Moncada is thought of as lazy and has no interest in being part of the team, Eloy Jimenez is happy-go-lucky but also considered to be extremely lazy, and Yasmani Grandal doesn’t work with the pitching staff and has lost their trust.  Later in the day, a story broke, from a Score producer, of an altercation between Tim Anderson and Grandal after Grandal wanted out of the last game prior to the All-Star Break to get an early start to his vacation.

When new manager Pedro Grifol was hired back in November, he said that, given what he had seen from the White Sox in years past, he would ensure that they came out every night with “high energy” and would be “prepared to win a baseball game.”  That didn’t turn out to be the case, as the White Sox were just as lackadaisical in their approach and their play as they were in 2022.  He was also quoted as saying “You can’t win a pennant in April and May, but you sure can lose one… you really have to be careful how easy you take it…”  This was rather prophetic, as the White Sox certainly managed to lose any chance they had at winning a pennant in April and May.  They spent exactly one day over .500, and that was following an opening day victory.  A ten-game losing streak from April 19-29 doomed them, and they’ve never been able to recover.

For once, the losing has forced change upon the organization.  A good part of the pitching staff was sold off at the trade deadline.  Executive Vice President Kenny Williams and General Manager Rick Hahn were relieved of their duties and replaced by Chris Getz.  More changes. I’m sure, will come this offseason.  Will this lead to a turn-around in 2024?  Probably not, as this year’s free agent class looks to be awfully weak, and the team has many holes to fill.  They also don’t have much in the way of trade capital, so it will be interesting to see how Getz is able to remake the team into one capable of contending.

by jim

Will The Last One To Leave Guaranteed Rate Field Please Turn Out The Lights

The ink wasn’t dry on yesterday’s post about the Lance Lynn trade when it was announced that the next domino had fallen: Kendall Graveman is going back to Houston in exchange for catcher Korey Lee.  Graveman, who finished the 2021 season with the Astros before signing with the White Sox as a free agent, was mostly fine during his tenure with the White Sox, though he struggled somewhat while filling in as closer this year while Liam Hendriks recuperates.

Korey Lee, 25, who was the fifth ranked prospect in the Astros system, was a college teammate of Andrew Vaughn and is known as a top-tier defensive catcher.  He didn’t hit much in 12 big league games with the Astros in 2022, but has a .283 average in Triple A so far this year.  He’s currently on the IL with an oblique strain.  With Yasmani Grandal a free agent after this year, Lee should be in the mix behind the plate in 2024.

by admin

2023 All Star Break Batting Leaders

With the All-Star Game in the books and a few days of rest before the second half kicks off, let’s take a look at the first half offensive leaders for the 24 games I attended at three different stadiums, starting with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 8
Jake Burger 5
Andrew Vaughn 4
7 tied with 2

Hits

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 26
Luis Robert 18
Jake Burger 15
Elvis Andrus 14
Andrew Vaughn 14

Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 13
Andrew Benintendi 12
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by admin

The White Sox Get Their Man

The hot stove warmed up a bit this past Friday as word broke that the White Sox had signed former Red Sox/Royal/Yankee outfielder Andrew Benintendi to a five-year, $75 million contract.  Slotting into left field, Benintendi strengthens the outfield defense, where the White Sox have been playing first basemen out of position for most of the past two seasons, and adds a much needed lefty bat to the lineup.

The addition of Benintendi likely spells the end of Eloy Jimenez as an everyday outfielder and pushes the slugger into the DH role he was destined to inhabit.  He should also add some balance to a lineup that has struggled against right handed pitching over much of the past two seasons.

Benintendi has been a long target of the White Sox.  They were linked to him in the 2015 draft, where the Red Sox selected him one pick before the White Sox selected Carson Fulmer.  He was also rumored to be a target in the Chris Sale trade, which eventually netted fellow Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada.  Not to mention that Benintendi spent the most of the past two seasons with the Royals, alongside new White Sox manager Pedro Grifol and coaches Mike Tosar and Eddie Rodríguez.

Benintendi’s $75 million contract now becomes the largest deal in franchise history, surpassing Yasmani Grandal’s $73 million deal inked prior to the 2020 season.  At this rate, the White Sox will crack the nine-figure contract mark in 2048.

by admin

What Went Wrong

After winning a Wild Card slot in 2020 and running away with the Central Division title in 2021, the White Sox looked like an easy lock to make a third straight post-season appearance this October.  Unfortunately, something (or somethings) went wrong along the way and after a long season where nothing ever seemed to click, the team was officially eliminated on Sunday after dropping six straight against the Guardians and the Tigers.  So where did things fall apart?  Let’s take a deeper look.

Injuries

After injuries rocked the White Sox in 2021, they revamped their strength and conditioning staff, hoping a new program would help stem the tide.  Unfortunately, the lockout prevented the new staff from working with the players, leaving them to their own devices.  GM Rick Hahn said in June that, between the lockout and the shortened spring training, the new program “got stymied a little bit this offseason” and that it would “be difficult in-season to perhaps change the results over the next few weeks and months in terms of health.”  Boy, was he not kidding.

Things started at the end of spring training, when lefty reliever Garrett Crochet went down for the year with an elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery.  Two days later, starter Lance Lynn left his final spring tune-up with a bum knee, putting him on the shelf until the middle of June.  Finally, before the White Sox arrived in Detroit for their season opener, Yoan Moncada suffered an oblique strain that knocked him out for a month and may have sunk his entire season.  Relief pitcher Joe Kelly, signed during the offseason, also started the season on the IL rehabbing an injury from the year before and wasn’t activated until May.

Outfielder AJ Pollock left the second game of the year with a hamstring injury, missing over three weeks.  The same day, Lucas Giolito was placed on the IL with an abdominal strain, keeping him out for nearly two weeks.  The day he was activated, Eloy Jimenez was placed on the IL with a strained hamstring suffered that day against the Twins.  It would be two and a half months before he returned.  This was all before the calendar turned to May!

Things never let up.  Andrew Vaughn missed time in May after getting hit in the hand by a pitch.  Aaron Bummer suffered a right knee strain that kept him out for two weeks.  Lucas Giolito and Luis Robert both missed time in May thanks to bouts with COVID.  Joe Kelly went back on the IL with a hamstring strain.  Tim Anderson missed three weeks with a groin strain, the same injury that kept Vince Velasquez for two weeks.

Aaron Bummer suffered another injury in mid-June which kept him out until September.  Yasmani Grandal was felled with lower back spasms for six weeks.  A right forearm strain put Liam Hendriks on the shelf for nearly three weeks.  A strained hamstring took down Yoan Moncada for nearly three weeks.  Adam Engel fell victim to the same injury for two weeks.  On July 6th, Jake Burger went down with a bruised hand following a hit by pitch, Vince Velasquez was felled by a blister on his right index finger, and Danny Mendick was lost for the year with a torn ACL.  We just now are getting to the All-Star break.  Shall I keep going?

Luis Robert was shut down with blurred vision.  A lower back strain put Reynaldo Lopez on the shelf.  A torn finger ligament knocked out Tim Anderson for the remainder of the year on August 9th.  Another lower back strain took down Leury Garcia.  A bum knee sent Michael Kopech to the IL, while another hamstring strain stopped Yoan Moncada for the third time this year.  Kopech was felled again with a shoulder strain on September 7th.  Finally, after suffering with a wrist injury for nearly a month and a half, Luis Robert was shut down and placed on the IL on Saturday with the 2022 title all but wrapped up for the Guardians.

Aside from the sheer number of injuries, this meant that the White Sox were very rarely at anything approaching full strength.  Some piece of the puzzle was always missing, and usually two or three pieces.  The bullpen injuries led to some early overwork for guys like Kendall Graveman, which impacted his performance in the second half.  Because of this, the White Sox never seemed to gel or to be able to string wins together to pull ahead.

Lack of Power

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by admin

2021 Final Batting Leaders

Another baseball season has come to an end, with the White Sox winning their first division title since 2008 and making the post-season in consecutive seasons for the first time in team history, before losing to the Astros in the ALDS and the Cubs shocking their fanbase with the dismantling of the core that led them to 3 straight NLCSs and a world championship in 2016.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 58 games that I attended this season, with lower capacity crowds in the spring to full capacity at the end:

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 9
Yasmani Grandal 8
Patrick Wisdom 7
Luis Robert 6
Yoan Moncada 5
Tim Anderson 5

Hits

Name Total
Tim Anderson 55
Jose Abreu 49
Yoan Moncada 49
Luis Robert 29
Andrew Vaughn 26

Runs

Name Total
Tim Anderson 32
Yoan Moncada 27
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by admin

Lighting It Up

A high scoring affair on the south side last night as the White Sox battled their crosstown rivals led me to think: what was the highest scoring game I’ve ever attended?  Some quick calculations have produced these top 9 scoring games that I have seen in person, starting with last night’s tilt.

30 runs

8/27/2021

After putting up 6 runs in the top half of the first, the Cubs, for the second time this season, coughed up the lead.  Yasmani Grandal, in his first game action since a knee injury on July 5th, hit two home runs and drove in 8 runs as the White Sox won 17-13.  The 17 runs are the 4th largest output I’ve seen in person, while the 13 runs put up by the Cubs was the largest I’ve seen in a losing effort.

26 runs

7/2/2006

Another high scoring crosstown tilt, as Michael Barrett and Carlos Zambrano both homered off of Mark Buehrle in a 7 run first inning.  Despite home runs from Juan Uribe, Jim Thome, Joe Crede, and Tadahito Iguchi, the Cubs held on to win 15-11 while avoiding a three game sweep.

9/2/2017

Powered by backup catcher Rene Rivera’s first career grand slam, the Cubs built an 11-4 lead heading to the 7th inning against the Braves.  The Cubs bullpen then managed to give up 8 runs over the final three innings, which would have given the Braves the victory, but they also managed to tack on 3 insurance runs, giving the Cubs a 14-12 win.

24 runs

4/30/2008

Two three-run homers from Geovany Soto led the Cubs to a 19-5 victory over the Brewers, their highest single game output since 2001.

23 runs

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by admin

2021 All Star Break Batting Leaders

The All Star Game is in the books, as the American League extended its winning streak to 8 straight and White Sox closer Liam Hendriks earned the save, only the second White Sox player to do so.  As baseball takes the day off to prepare for the second half, let’s take a look at the first half offensive leaders for the 32 games I attended, starting with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 5
Javier Baez 4
Adam Eaton 3
Patrick Wisdom 3
Yasmani Grandal 3
Carlos Santana 3
Brad Miller 3

Hits

Name Total
Tim Anderson 28
Yoan Moncada 26
Jose Abreu 24
Nick Madrigal 21
Yermin Mercedes 14

Runs

Name Total
Tim Anderson 17
Jose Abreu 14
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