White Sox: Stats make Tony La Russa’s decision look even worse

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa looks even worse in the aftermath of his decision to intentionally walk Trea Turner.

By now you’ve heard the argument. Turner was walked, despite facing a 1-2 count, in favor of Max Muncy. That choice backfired on La Russa and the White Sox, as Muncy hit a home run and flaunted in TLR’s face after the fact.

It was a glorious moment of baseball karma best served cold. For baseball fans on Chicago’s south side, it’s an unfortunate feat they’ve been forced to deal with the last few seasons. As seasoned as La Russa is, he makes curious decisions at times that ought to be questioned.

This is one of those times.

White Sox: Stats show Tony La Russa made the wrong decision

“Is there some question about whether that was good move or not?” La Russa asked after the game. “Do you know what [Turner] hits against left-handed pitching with 0-1 or two strikes? Do you know what Muncy hits with two strikes against a left-handed pitcher? Is that really a question? We had an open base and Muncy happened to be the guy behind him and that’s a better matchup.”

FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray put that argument to bed with a deep dive into Turner’s career statistics. Given the likely All-Star was facing a 1-2 count, La Russa got in his own way here.

Yikes. Had the Sox walked Turner at the beginning of his at-bat, perhaps TLR would have an argument. But to do so when Chicago was one strike away from getting out of the situation altogether made next to no sense.