The first half of the 2019 season was refreshingly positive for a Chicago White Sox team that was not expected to be very competitive. With the second half beginning tonight, will the favorable developments continue? Here’s some predictions for certain players, and for the team as a whole:
Eloy Jiménez
Eloy Jiménez began the season being force-fed sliders and curveballs, a strategy that led to him producing a .674 OPS through his first month of play. He then sprained his ankle and took some time to get back in the swing of things upon returning in May. Since June 1, however, he is batting .267/.336/.591, which culminates in a .927 OPS and 139 wRC+. It is clear from watching him that he is a much more patient hitter, and he has already adapted to the steady diet of breaking pitches being given to him. In addition, his defense has improved immensely in left field from where it was in April, to the point where he is no longer a liability and may be a passable defender.
? ELOY ROBBERY ? pic.twitter.com/q5TEQBFiHR
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) July 4, 2019
I believe that Jimenez will continue to build on his impressive June and finish the season on a high note. Brandon Lowe, the current AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner, is due for some regression, so if Eloy maintains his pace, he should find himself firmly in the conversation for the award.
Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson arguably has been the second or third-best position player on the White Sox this season, and there are rumors that he is ahead of schedule in his recovery from an ankle sprain and could return sooner than the early-August expectation. While Anderson’s offense has improved this year, his defense has taken a step back in terms of its consistency. During the second half of last season, Anderson was a defensive mastermind, and he should return to that degree of play this season. Simply put, he is too talented to not eventually return to the level of defensive wizardry he reached last year. After all, he has shown this year that he is still capable of highlight reel plays.
Yoán Moncada
I have written about Yoán Moncada fairly often this season, and there is only so much one can say about the same player. Moncada enters the second half hitting .308/.364/.544, with plus defense at third base and plus baserunning. He has been worth 3.5 fWAR, which is 10th in all of baseball. He is a legitimate superstar. While the nature of his offensive skill set will leave him more prone to extreme hot and cold stretches than other hitters, his end-of-season statistics will look plenty appealing.
MONCADA MASSACRED THIS BALL
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) July 4, 2019
Lucas Giolito
Everyone knows by this point that Lucas Giolito has completely transformed himself from one of the worst pitchers in baseball to one of the best. If this was a few weeks ago, I might have pointed out Giolito’s somewhat fluky home run-to-fly ball ratio, but that already has started to correct itself. With that out of the way, I cannot find anything on Giolito that suggests any significant regression. Starting pitchers are not the easiest to project, especially over small samples, but it is probably fair to presume that Giolito finishes the season on a similar pace that he’s on now.
Frozen. pic.twitter.com/4DQTS0PhCU
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) July 10, 2019
James McCann
James McCann has been a revelation defensively and as a game-caller. Offensively, he has been fantastic, and even though his BABIP may suggest that his season is a product of luck, this is not really true. While McCann has indeed been lucky on batted balls, he is also clearly a different hitter than he was when he played for the Detroit Tigers. While I predict that his BABIP, and with it his overall offensive numbers, will decrease, they shouldn’t crater. He is an improved enough hitter that he is probably still average to above-average, and that is how he should hit in the second half of the year. Because McCann is a catcher, his offense is not much of a priority, so the solid offense he provides from his position makes him quite valuable.
James McCann singles to right field in his first All-Star Game at-bat. MERCY!
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) July 10, 2019
Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease will be a very good MLB starter, in time. I am just not sure if now is that time. He will get by on pure stuff, but location on his fastball will prevent him from being dominant right away. Cease will be able to rack up strikeouts and some weak contact thanks to his overwhelming arsenal and movement on his off-speed pitches, but he may struggle with some walks and getting into hitters’ counts as he learns to pitch in the big leagues. Cease won’t be bad, but it’s also fair to expect some inconsistency early on. At the very least, Cease figures to be an upgrade over the non-Giolito parts of the rotation, and he will provide plenty of fun highlights.
FILTHY. #CeaseDay
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) July 3, 2019
Overall
For the most part, I expect the team’s core pieces to perform similarly to how they did in the first half, which is a good thing. I don’t agree with the belief that the team’s current 42-44 record is a major fluke, and I won’t get into my qualms with Pythagorean W/L and run differential as barometers for luck (at least not in this post), but I envision this team ending up with a record around 78-84, which is somewhat better than the predictions I have been reading. If Luis Robert and/or Nick Madrigal join the MLB roster, I can see the team exceeding expectations, but I would not bank on them doing so this season. Regardless, the White Sox are an exciting team to watch these days, and I believe that the core players will perform well in the second half and provoke even more enthusiasm for 2020.
Featured Photo: @WhiteSox
My first day of the season prediction was 80-82. Granted I had very high hopes and new it seemed quite lofty. I do believe now though there is a really good possibility we hit the 80 win mark. The team is starting to really show signs of what the future holds, and provided we don’t make any silly trades I would be elated if we could pull out 80 wins this season! My player of the second half will be Eloy, I look for him to tear it up. Props to McCann btw, what a pleasant surprise this guy has turned out to be!
You can’t have good young pitching if your infield keeps making dump errors. Sox give up too many second chances for young pitching to develop. If the fielding doesn’t get better it won’t matter who is pitching. Make Anderson an outfielder, bring up Madrigal and Robert get them MLB time and you have a very good young core to grow with. Moncada, Jimenez, Giolito are on track so help the pitchers with better fielding.
Because Giolito had a very good won lost record. Without that they’re 10 games worse, thankfully he has been so much better than he was last year. Seems we actually should have a better record than we do because the better record is mainly That one pitcher having 10 plus side wins and yet there have been major improvements such as in Moncada, our catcher position, Jimenez power, Andersons batting average and more. We do miss the 27 home runs that Palka had and one wonders if they should have just stuck with him or Alonso as the other guys they are using for that spot are not very good.
30 MLB Teams: I am not sure how we started today only 3 games under 500. It seems our offense is better, but the numbers tell something different:
MLB Ranking:
Runs: 26
2B: 27
3B: 29
HR: 25
OBA: 22
SLG: 22
OPS: 22
BB: 30
How are we only, well after today’s debacle, only 4 games below 500?
Thanks for the reply, and good point on the September schedule. That’s really interesting and a strong finish could help the team look more appealing to free agents as well.
Liked the overall assessment Nik. Thanks for producing some content for us lonely Sox fans (it seems)…LOL. I could honestly see Giolito coming down to earth a bit in the second half…he looks a little overwhelmed out there at times to me. He’ll get over that in time, but I think he’s starting to worry too much about expectations (that he talks about NOT worrying about it all the time it seems, makes me think he’s trying to convince himself 😉 ). Lopez, on the other hand, could do slightly better IMO to average it out. 3 of his last 5 games were serviceable starts…and that kind of “average” in outings would lead to an improvement on his W/L assuming the teams supports him at the plate…the sox won 3 of 5 in those games (despite Lopez only picking up 1 W). Nova has pitched well in all but 1 of his last 5 outings as well against high quality teams.
Mancado is way underrated…but that should serve to provide him great incentive. I’m really curious what their record will be going into the stretch. Starting Sept 6, 16 of their last 22 games are against the Royals, Tigers, Angels and Mariners…and those 4 teams have a combined winning % below .400 right now. And 13 of the total 22 games are at home.
It’s reasonable to think that “if” the WS can be around .500 on Sept 6 still, they should finish out the season on a real upswing taking a lot of positive energy into the off-season and into 2020. I’m not delusional enough to imagine the Sox posting something like a .670 2nd half win % to grab what would seem to be minimally required for a WC this year (93 wins would get it if things remain the same at the end of the year in the AL), BUT playing solid baseball up to Sept 6 would put them in a position to put a nice cap on the end of the year for all of us.
Nik, you didn’t just provide content but some very good and insightful content. I share your interests also. Hope to see more.
Appreciate it!
Thanks for this, Nik. I agree on all counts, but think the final record will be a game or two better. I think Jimenez is going to be a monster by the end of the season and for reasons you state: he’s learning and getting better on what seems like a daily basis. And like others here, am amazed at how little attention Moncada is getting, both from Sox fans and nationally. I get that Eloy and Anderson have very engaging personalities that make them more media-friendly, but Moncada is becoming a top-rank talent and ought to be getting more love. Of course, maybe he prefers it this way.
Thanks for the reply, and I could very well see us finishing a bit better too.