Twin Terrors! White Sox Unleash Two Power Hitting Threats That will Strike Fear into Opponents Hearts
The Chicago White Sox are on the same pace to be one of if not the worst teams in Major League Baseball this season. The White Sox finally got their first win yesterday when they beat the Cleveland Guardians by a score of 4-2.
The win came at a cost, with outfielder Andrew Benintendi set to miss 4 to 6 weeks with a broken hand after being hit by a pitch.
The White Sox will now have to fill the void that Benintendi will leave, as he won’t return till around mid-April if all goes well. To fill that void, the White Sox will need players like Luis Robert Jr. to step up and provide some thump to the order to help the White Sox win games in April.
Chicago White Sox outfielder named to be the team leader in home runs
Robert Jr. was recently named in a report published by Andrew Simon of MLB.com that he would be the team’s leader in home runs for this season. Simon writes that Robert Jr. will hit 27 home runs this season after only hitting 14 last season.
Robert Jr.’s career-high in home runs came during the 2023 season, where he had 38 of them and finished 12th in the MVP voting. Last season saw the native of Cuba have career lows in both his slugging percentage (.379) and his OPS (.657), which could have been due to Robert Jr. missing a majority of the season due to injury and getting a late start.
However, this season, 6-2 centerfielder comes into camp healthy and looking like a tank after spending this off-season working out with Juan Soto and others. Outside of Rorbet Jr., the White Sox have other players who could provide some pop.
Other players who could provide some pop in the lineup
Outside of Robert Jr., the White Sox will need other players to step up and provide some power after ranking dead last in both home runs (133) and slugging percentage (.340) last season. With Benintendi down, the White Sox could look to players like Joey Gallo to give them more pop either off the bench or as a starter.
Gallo was signed earlier this spring to a minor-league deal and is competing for a job on the Major League roster. The 31-year-old brings with him a career total of 208 home runs and has two seasons (2017,2018) in which he hit 40hrs.
A veteran left-hander hitter entering his 11th season in Major League Baseball, Gallo also had a down year in the power department, only hitting 10hrs and a slugging percentage of .336 in 76 games for the Washington Nationals. If Gallo wants to make the White Sox, power is what will do it for him.
Another year of little power
Sadly, outside Robert Jr., Gallo, and Benintendi, once he returns, the White Sox don’t have many options to provide with more power.
The way the White Sox will score runs this season will be by getting on base, limiting the strikeouts, and manufacturing runs in any way they can, given home runs won’t be a big part of their game.
Hopefully, someone else can step up and provide some more thump to the White Sox lineup.
