The Chicago White Sox are baseball’s punching bag right now and, after Luis Robert was benched on Saturday, more underperformers need to follow.
Entering the seventh inning against the Rays on Saturday, the Chicago White Sox had a 3-0 lead and Lance Lynn was working a no-hitter. Naturally, the Southsiders gave up 10 runs in the seventh frame and went on to lose 12-3 and drop to a dismal 7-21 on the season, tied for the second-worst record in baseball through the end of April.
Not only did the White Sox collapse in a microcosm for their disastrous start to the 2023 season but we also saw the pitiful display of effort from 25-year-old potential star outfielder Luis Robert. In the first inning of the eventual loss to Tampa Bay, Robert hit a chopper to the left side that should’ve been a close play at first.
Instead, Robert failed to hustle down the first-base line and was thrown out relatively easily. He was subsequently benched for his lack of hustle and offered only a lame, unacceptable excuse after the game for the lack of effort, citing “tight hamstrings” that he didn’t tell anyone about.
Sure.
Robert is now the poster child for the White Sox struggles this season, but he’s not the only player on the Southside of Chicago that needs to take a seat on the bench.
4. White Sox have already benched Luis Robert and need to hold true
The lack of hustle in the first inning of a game is reason enough for Robert to be benched in the first place. But the 25-year-old outfielder has also not been performing up to part this season as a whole, especially as of late.
For the season, Robert is slashing a measly .213/.248/.407 with a team-high 33 strikeouts. Yes, he has five home runs and 13 RBI, but they need him to simply get on base more than he is if the White Sox are going to have any hope of producing runs more consistently.
As mentioned, though, it’s been even worse of late. Over the last 15 days, Robert is just 5-for-51 with no home runs and two RBI to his credit while also drawing just four walks. That’s “good” for a slash line of .098/.179/.137.
This is supposed to be one of the stars and lead-by-performance players on the roster in Chicago. He’s decidedly not taking care of that and, frankly, something has to change.
For what it’s worth, Robert was not in the lineup for the Sunday series finale against the Rays with the hamstring issue being listed as the reason.
3. Seby Zavala needs to be benched by the White Sox
Seby Zavala, as is the case with most ballclubs, splits the starts at catcher with Yasmani Grandal, with the former having made 12 starts in the 2023 season behind the dish. But based on his performance lately and overall this season, the White Sox seriously need to consider giving Grandal an even heavier majority of the starts at catcher.
Zavala is slashing just .182/.229/.303 on the season with only two extra-base hits and two RBi to his credit. He’s also struck out 10 times in just 33 at-bats on the year. It’s been anything but pretty for him this season and, frankly, the signs of improvement are nowhere to be seen.
Over the last 15 days, Zavala is a dismal 2-for-20 with only one walk, meaning he’s reached base on just three of 21 plate appearances over that span, and has struck out six times as well. That gives him a slash line of .100/.143/.100 in that span.
Grandal has been slumping slightly but, even then, has been better than Zavala amid his struggles at the plate. Moreover, Grandal is hitting .241 on the season and has, this season and overall, shown more pop at the plate as well. An everyday catcher isn’t totally viable, but Zavala can’t keep getting consistent playing time performing at this low level.
2. Michael Kopech needs to be benched by the White Sox
Hard-throwing right-hander Michael Kopech has been a source of excitement and optimism for White Sox fans for quite some time in his young career and it seemed like it was paying off over the last two seasons as he posted a 3.50 ERA in 2021 followed by a 3.54 ERA in 2022, including some truly dominant outings a year ago.
Toward the end of last season, though, there were some concerning performances from Kopech and, unfortunately, that’s been virtually all that we’ve seen from the righty at the start of the 2023 season.
In five starts this year, Kopech has a 7.01 ERA and 1.71 WHIP hanging over him, which looks even worse when paired with the 0-3 record he’s also sporting. And for what it’s worth, the White Sox are 1-4 in games started by Kopech.
Ironically, one of those losses came in the lone good performance from the hurler that he had this season, a 6.0-inning, two-hit, one-run showing against the Pirates on April 9 that Chicago lost 1-0.
Kopech has given up at least three runs and six hits in the four other starts this season, though, also struggling with control as he’s already walked 16 batters in just 25.2 innings on the year.
For a player who has elite stuff and showed so well a season ago, something has to be done to get him out of the funk that he’s clearly in right now at the start of 2023, and perhaps putting him on the pine and letting him try to get right is what he needs to get back and be a key cog on the back end of the White Sox rotation.
1. Lenyn Sosa needs to be benched by the White Sox
When Tim Anderson had to make an unfortunate trip to the IL in early April, the organization called up the No. 8 prospect in their system, Lenyn Sosa, with hopes that he and veteran Elvis Andrus could shore up the middle of the infield while their star shortstop was unable to take the field.
Putting it as plainly as possible, Sosa has done no such thing to this point.
Over 15 games, Sosa has already accrued a -0.7 WAR on the year, which it isn’t hard to see as to why when you look at his numbers. For the year, the youngster is slashing a dismal .125/.143/.229 with only three extra-base hits (one home run) and three RBI. He also has almost double the number of strikeouts (11) as he does hits on the year (6).
Making matters worse is the fact that, though he has yet to commit an error on the season — admittedly, a positive given the situation in Chicago — he has been a negative defensive player for the White Sox too with a -0.3 dWAR in his appearances this season.
The Anderson injury undoubtedly puts the White Sox in a tough spot where they might be forced to play Sosa consistently still. Based on the way he’s played, though, if there’s another option out there, the club needs to find it.