Yasmani Grandal does not have many hits this season. His .172 average is a testament to that. But when he does get them, they always seem to be timely ones. Wednesday afternoon was no different.
The White Sox had been on a four-game losing skid. Nothing seemed to be going right. The offense was non-existent, the pitching was bad and the defense left a lot to be desired. After dropping a game to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates the White Sox were desperate to avoid a sweep and a 0-6 road trip.
With two outs in the fifth inning and the score tied at two, Yasmani Grandal delivered the biggest hit of the game. Runners were at the corners and the White Sox offense had been sputtering all week. The White Sox could ill afford to squander scoring opportunities.
Grandal worked a full count before smoking an 85 mph slider opposite field into the left-center field ally. That plated both runs for an RBI double. That turned out to be the game-winning hit as the White Sox would hang on to win 4-3. This is not the first time, Grandal has played hero for the White Sox.
The Grand-y Man Can! pic.twitter.com/wIytX24k2H
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 23, 2021
The night before he also came up huge. The White Sox were trailing 2-0 in the seventh inning until Grandal came to the rescue. Tony La Russa called upon him to pinch-hit for Zack Collins and, he launched the first pitch he saw over the center-field fence for a three-run homer. The White Sox scored seven runs in Pittsburgh. Grandal drove in five of them.
YAZ MONEY! pic.twitter.com/d23k2hDfb2
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 23, 2021
Just a week before he hit a walk-off single in extra innings to help the White Sox complete a series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. On June 4th Grandal hit two home runs, including a game-tying blast with two outs in the seventh inning. Last season he hit a walk-off home run against the Kansas City Royals. Grandal seems to have a knack for big moments.
YAZ! pic.twitter.com/XpHEY0Ccvz
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 5, 2021
Ever since his legs have begun to feel better at the beginning of June his power has begun to emerge. Grandal dealt with a nagging leg injury throughout spring training that carried over to the start of the season. While he has been the source of debate amongst Sox fans as to how valuable he is the numbers show he is making a major impact. Since May 1st he ranks second amongst all catchers in the MLB in WAR with a 1.6 mark. Grandal’s .899 OPS is also the second-best in the MLB amongst MLB catchers since May 1st. His wRC+ which measures weighted runs created is sitting at 126. The league average is around 100. Grandal’s .354 wOPB also ranks well above the .324 league average. He is also second in baseball with 54 walks. Grandal is second on the White Sox with 11 home runs and second on the team with 34 runs scored.
The Yasmani Grandal haters are in shambles right now. On defense he has still been an above-average pitch framer, he’s hitting the ball hard and getting on base.
“It’s studying film, it’s recognizing situations,” Yasmani Grandal told High Heat. “You have a game plan and you want to hit your pitch, you don’t want to hit their pitch. All of a sudden a lot of times they are missing and it’s a four-pitch walk. I treat a walk just like a base hit. The game is won by scoring runs so the more I get on base the more the whole team gets on base the more the team has a chance to score more runs.”
It’s no surprise that Grandal is good when the game is on the line with this approach. He slows the game down and knows what pitches to look for. With the White Sox offense in shambles due to injury, they will need all the help they can get from Grandal.
