I have written about Yoan Moncada a lot over the past couple of years. Once a polarizing player, practically every metric agrees this year that he is outstanding. Most recently, I wrote about this in: Yoan Moncada’s luck has normalized, and his numbers are still terrific back in early May. We are now in July and his numbers are even better. He was hitting .285/.338/.500 at the time and is now at an incredible .304/.357/.528 line. He has been worth 2.8 fWAR so far this season and has been a plus defender at third base. The purpose of this article is not to determine how sustainable this is, but I will say that his .392 BABIP, while due for some regression, is still not outrageous given his contact profile. Additionally, his xBA is .292 (compared to a true BA of .304) and his xwOBA/wOBA ratio is almost 1.0, which suggests that his performance is not a result of luck. For my full thoughts on this topic, feel free to read the post I linked above.
Moncada’s emergence as one of MLB’s premier young talents should be a major story, but it is not. Such is the norm for the White Sox. What is unusual, however, is that it is not even a major story in the Chicago market. This season, the main stories around the White Sox have been the sudden emergence of Lucas Giolito, James McCann’s surprising all-star season, and Tim Anderson’s quest to break the unwritten rules of baseball. All of these stories are great and worthy of discussion. Nevertheless, Moncada is being overlooked.
This is an actual headline from an article published less than 5 months ago. Given that Moncada has been so good in 2019, you would imagine that White Sox fans would be eager to let baseball fans know that Moncada is making many of them look silly.
Instead, Moncada has been largely forgotten about while Giolito, McCann, and Anderson share the spotlight. 
Allow me to preface this by saying that I like Chuck Garfien and Daryl Van Schouwen, and you should follow them on Twitter if you are not already. They have tweeted and published plenty of positive things about Yoan Moncada this season. But when they discuss the White Sox MVP, the player who I believe is the team’s actual MVP is not even in the discussion.
Giolito, McCann, and Anderson are awesome, but Moncada is a clearly superior position player relative to the last two. I also believe that everyday players like Moncada deserve the edge in hypothetical MVP conversations over starting pitchers (aside from starters who have ridiculous seasons, like Jacob deGrom last year). I would understand it if some disagree with that opinion, but can we at least agree that Moncada deserves to be in the discussion?
Photo: Clinton Cole
I understand that the White Sox have had tons of great stories this season, and of course I am happy about it. But let us not discount that Yoan Moncada, the face of this rebuild, has been one of the most valuable players in the sport. The debates about who the team MVP would be are fun, but in my opinion, the answer is clear. Moncada is the best player on the White Sox and it’s time White Sox fans start to accept it.
Featured Photo: Clinton Cole (link)
Can’t and won’t argue. I think part of the issue is that, despite the bad press last year when he wasn’t, people expected Moncada to be very good and so now that he is, well, “what did you expect? I mean, after all, they traded Sale for him, right? He’s only doing what he was supposed to do.”
Gio and McDoes, on the other hand, are genuine surprises and so garner all the attention.
Moncada has clearly been their best all-around position player by every measurable the entire season and it’s not even close… He has Anderson beat in every single offensive category except BA and is the vastly superior defender… he’s a whole talent tier above TA and now that he’s finally starting to hit from the right side the gap is only gonna get wider.
That’s not a slight on TA… but maybe a slight on the huge amount of love he’s gotten while 10 has been way under-loved.
But I also won’t ignore what seems like it might be a worrisome flaw in Moncada’s game — he’s got to stop asking out of games every time he has a discomfort… I’ve never seen a guy not walk it off in a two year period as much as him…
I’m going to Devil’s Advocate here and say that all things considered, I’d rather have our star/franchise player of the next decade err on the side of caution over showing how tough he is and ending up on the 60 Day IL a couple of times a season.
I agree that YM is the MVP for the Sox so far. I do think it’s a closer race between him and McCann though as I would credit some of Giolito’s success to the catcher. McCann is playing well offensively, defensively, and has the ability to make others better. So, for me it’s Yoan 1A and McCann 1B. Loved the article!
Nik I love the way you report on the White Sox I love your article I love your point of view I agree with most of the things that you said the White Sox need someone to get into Lopez’s head and straighten him out and he will be a good picture
Great minds think alike. AB Chicago ‘59. YM can be as good as he wants to be. He’s as talented as I’ve seen & i’ve been watching since ‘42.