On Wednesday afternoon Gavin Sheets summarized everything wrong with Rick Hahn’s construction of the White Sox roster in one play.
In the fourth inning of the series finale, Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers hit a lazy fly ball to right field. The ball left his bat at just 88.9 mph, a textbook routine play. Sheets took a few steps in and realized he had misread the ball. He tried to turn quickly turn around and fell to the ground as the ball sailed over his head. It was scored as a leadoff triple, and Jeffers would wind up being the only earned run White Sox starter Lucas Giolito allowed all afternoon in a tight pitcher’s duel.
Had Sheets stayed on his feet, that ball would have been caught. Had the White Sox placed an outfielder in right field instead of a first baseman by trade, that ball would have been caught.
“I thought he got jammed a little better,” Sheets told reporters. “Took a hard step in and kind of got turned around with the ball fading into the wind. I feel terrible in that situation, especially with the way Gio is throwing the ball.
“Especially to not get an error there and get that earned on him. It’s the best I’ve seen him throw probably this year and maybe in a while. You just move on. I feel bad for Gio and this team. That cost us a run in a game they have Sonny Gray throwing the ball really well. It’s not a good feeling.”
It’s hard to be mad at Sheets. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. In 2022 Sheets had the third most errors among American League right fielders. Baseball Savant ranked him in the bottom 13th percentile in the MLB in Outs Above Average, while his Outfield Jump ranked in the third percentile.
The White Sox had an entire offseason to address first baseman playing the outfield. Rick Hahn brought in a handful of patchwork outfielders, such as Victor Reyes, Jake Marisnick, and Billy Hamilton. Most assumed one would be good enough to earn a job as the fourth outfielder.
None of them were deemed good enough to make the roster. White Sox brass opted to roll into the season with two utility players, Romy Gonzalez and Hanser Alberto, instead of a true fourth outfielder. Gonzalez and Alberto had a combined 55 innings of MLB outfield experience entering the 2023 season.
When Oscar Colas cannot play, that means the only other right-field options are Gavin Sheets and the injury-prone Eloy Jimenez
who, as fate would have it, is currently on the IL.
Despite having Gonzalez and Alberto on the roster, who can both play multiple positions across the infield and Jake Burger, who can play third base, the team still decided to call up another infielder, Lenyn Sosa, to fill in for the injured Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada.
What does that tell you about the supplemental outfield moves Rick Hahn made this offseason? The team has no faith in Hamilton or Reyes. With Hahn as the general manager, the White Sox have statistically been a bottom ten defensive team since 2016.
The White Sox lack any real depth, especially in the outfield. That is on full display, not that the annual injury bug is making its way through the roster. Rick Hahn should be cringing watching that play on Wednesday. The White Sox have gone from Division Champs to a laughing stock in less than three seasons. Something needs to be done to right the ship.
