The White Sox seem to keep having an in issue with stringing together consecutive hits. They keep leaving runners on in seemingly every single inning, if they even record a hit. In their first road game they hit into three double plays, leaving more than ten runners on- which is an improvement compared to the previous games. They were also for 1-7 with runners in scoring position. Most of their games, they had less than five hits and looked lifeless. They even had the bases loaded and couldn’t score a run. At least they got to start the road trip with eight hits, which is almost the most they have gotten this whole season.
They have the second worst batting average in all of baseball ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, and in their defense, they haven’t played a single game at home so far. They also have played two of the best teams in baseball, the Houston Astros and the Tampa Bay Rays as well. Chicago is dead last in on base percentage and are second to last in hits/runs/RBIs/walks taken in all of baseball.
The Sox need to change the batting lineup now before it gets even worse than it is. You do not want the last four spots in your lineup to be easy outs, because they are starting glove first players. They have been one of the best defensive teams in all of baseball, but at what cost? Their pitching hasn’t been consistently good from the starters or the bullpen for all that defense to matter.
3B Yoan Moncada is having a better season so far than the most of the team, but his potential offensively would serve them better by sliding him down further. He has the power potential to drive in way more runs batting lower, and it would also drop 1B Andrew Vaughn a spot. Putting Moncada 5th would separate some of the clutter of glove first players, with moving him there so Vaughn would be 6th. Vaughn hasn’t proven anything so far to guarantee him a spot in the lineup that high, e.g. the heart of the lineup (3-5).
The question is between the infielders Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez, Braden Shewmake and outfielders Kevin Pillar and Dominic Fletcher (who moves up to second). It should be the guy who makes the most contact, and so far it has been Shewmake. He is a backup on this team, but he is slowing, turning into hopefully a “Ben Zobrist” or a “Joey Wendle” type where he can play many positions. He can be deployed everywhere so you could get his bat in the lineup every day, but unlike those utility All-Stars he can actually field his positions well.
When your four key players Andrew Benintendi, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Moncada are mostly not producing, it puts more stress on the rest of the lineup to step up. But guess what? The bottom four spots are glove first guys in right field, middle infield and specifically at catcher when Martin Maldonado plays, so that sometimes leaves the lineup not particularly scary for pretty much the entire lineup. The only good thing manager Pedro Grifol is doing playing Korey Lee more often because he had a great spring training offensively, so he isn’t going to be a complete zero like Maldonado as has been.
Maybe if Grifol tinkers around with the lineup by separating the bad hitters so they’re not all next to each other, maybe it will make some of a difference- especially when the starter might be pitching his heart out.
