White Sox: 3 players who won’t be on the roster past the trade deadline

3) Outfielder Adam Engel

One area that the Chicago White Sox have to address is their corner outfield spots. Andrew Vaughn is a corner outfielder doing well but has primarily been a DH. Outside of him, no corner outfielder has had an OPS+ above 90 on the season. The only DH that has had an OPS+ higher than 90 is José Abreu but he’s been their regular first baseman.

If the White Sox are buyers at the trade deadline, then they have to make an upgrade in one of their corner outfield spots. Corner outfielders Gavin Sheets and Adam Engel are the two that are most likely to be sent packing (either to another team or to the minors) but given that Sheets is left-handed, younger, and been higher on the prospect list (No. 9 prospect in their system, according to MLB.com, in 2020), it seems like Engel would have the shorter leash.

Adam Engel is a good defensive outfielder but this year, he has not been good at the plate. Overall on the season, he is hitting .240/.302/.349 with an OPS+ of 86. Since June 1, though, he is hitting just .206/.290/.324. Even worse, his BABIP is .368 in that span. Since it is above .300, that suggests that Engel has actually had good luck at the plate and that his stats will dip even lower soon.