What should the White Sox do about second base?
The Chicago White Sox have been disappointing this season. Projected by many as a World Series favorite, they currently sit in third place in the American League Central division with a 31-33 record.
The offense has struggled at times and second base is a position where they need to get better production. Veterans like Josh Harrison and Leury Garcia have not performed up to the level that fans and certainly the front office hoped for. Harrison especially seemed like a quality signing after the lockout but unfortunately just has not hit well, only recording a .198 batting average and -0.2 WAR.
With that being said, there are some other options inside the organization in which the White Sox could go with and hope for better results.
Danny Mendick
The first internal option to become the new White Sox second baseman is already on the team, Danny Mendick. Mendick has become the everyday shortstop now with Tim Anderson sidelined and has stepped up with a .288 batting average this season, which is almost 100 points higher than Harrison’s. If Mendick keeps up his offensive production, it will deepen the White Sox lineup from the bottom of the batting order and get the top of the order even more plate appearances.
Aside from Mendick, there are two other internal candidates in the minor leagues to play second base.
Yolbert Sanchez
Yolbert Sanchez has been a hot topic among White Sox fans recently with his production at Triple-A Charlotte. For the season, he has a .303 batting average, which is certainly higher than what the veterans have been hitting at second base for the White Sox. Sanchez is also 25 years old, so it would be worth a shot to promote him and see how he holds up. It’s always tough to predict how minor league stats will translate to the big leagues because the quality of pitching is much higher, but with Sanchez’s high-level production, fans would be eager to see a new face.
Lenyn Sosa
Lenyn Sosa is my final internal option for the White Sox to play second base. He is unlikely to be called up this year because he is only 22 years old and playing at Double-A Birmingham, but his production cannot be ignored. At Birmingham this season, Sosa is hitting an eye-popping .341 with 13 home runs. This kind of offensive outburst for the middle infielder should definitely lead towards a call up to Triple-A Charlotte soon. It would a welcome sight for him to get called up to the White Sox now given what his batting average is, but the organization likely will want him to prove he can hit well in Triple-A first.
If I were the general manager of the White Sox, I would call up Yolbert Sanchez and have him split at-bats regularly with Danny Mendick. I would also keep Harrison for depth purposes. This way, there would be two potential quality options at second base and the team could decide who is the better solution based on their results. There are many other quality hitters on the White Sox, so the second base position shouldn’t be relied on for a ton of production, but a little bit of quality production is currently better than what they’ve been getting. The more offensive help the White Sox can get, the deeper they can get into October and look more like the World Series favorites fans thought they’d be.
Photograph courtesy of Nam Y. Huh for the AP and used by middletownpress.com