Week 1 Record: 5-4 | Overall Record: 5-4, 2nd Place in AL Central
Every week here at Sox on 35th, I’ll be wrapping up the past week of baseball in case you missed any of the games. Here you’ll find the score recaps, links to box scores, and, as we build this out, more recaps based on some of your thoughts as fans. Stay tuned for some fun here!
The Sox started off at a dismal 1-4 pace, but rattled off four straight wins with an offense that came to life against Kansas City. The White Sox continue their road trip with an offense that appears to finally be clicking. Let’s look at some of the key performances from this week!
Tale of the Tape
Game 1: White Sox 5 – Twins 10 | Box Score | Recap
Game 2: White Sox 10 – Twins 3 | Box Score | Recap
Game 3: White Sox 2 – Twins 14 | Box Score | Recap
Game 4: White Sox 3 – Indians 4 | Box Score | Recap
Game 5: White Sox 3 – Indians 5 | Box Score | Recap
Game 6: White Sox 4 – Indians 0 | Box Score | Recap
Game 7: White Sox 3 – Royals 2 | Box Score | Recap
Game 8: White Sox 11 – Royals 5 | Box Score | Recap
Game 9: White Sox 9 – Royals 2 | Box Score | Recap
Weekly Wrap-Up Thoughts
This was a whirlwind of a week for the White Sox. A 1-4 start sent the fan base into a panic and caused Lucas Giolito to call the game against the Indians he started a “must-win game.” Making claims like that seem crazy after just six games, but it speaks to the urgency the players on the field feel in a 60-game season.
I’ve talked a lot about this, but it’s hard for me to really react to anything positive or negative I’ve seen through nine games. No matter how many games are played this season, that’s still a tiny sample size from which to draw conclusions – both positive ones and negative ones. It’s fun to see how awesome Luis Robert looks early on, but I’d caution you to be as careful about drawing conclusions from how he has performed as you should be drawing conclusions from a poor start to starting pitching performances.
What to watch for this week? Let’s see how the offense continues to click once they play a better team than Kansas City. Additionally, it will be a third time through the rotation for everyone, and I would expect that the starting staff continues to feel more comfortable as they go out there. Remember, these starters have only gotten 2.5 weeks of Summer Camp to prepare, so these first few outings have been invaluable to them, though not what we expected results-wise. Patience is important for starters this year – it’s an odd year for them, just like everyone else.
As we go through a third week of the season, it will be interesting to see how the Sox match up against guys like Bieber and Clevinger for the Indians as well. All said, I’d anticipate the White Sox find a way to go 4-3 or 5-2 this week before playing seven of ten games against Detroit. If they can get 2-3 games above .500 before those games, the White Sox will have the opportunity to really grab a hold of one of the top spots in the division as they look to make it into the playoffs.
Stats On 35th: This Week By the Numbers
This Week’s Numbers:
1, 4, 0.8, 11, 95
Hell yeah, Stats On 35th is BACK in all its glory. Same old stats, but a new place for them. I know you missed this.
1
Through Sunday’s action, the White Sox, as a team, rank 1st in team Batting Average at .281. This is a pretty solid feat, considering the slow starts that Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal, and Edwin Encarnacion have had. It speaks to the power of the youth on this team to help carry the load at times throughout the season.
4
With his 4-hit performance on Sunday, Nick Madrigal became the first White Sox player to have a four-hit game in his first 3 career games since Daniel Palka did it back in 2018. Before that? It was last done by Jim Busby back in 1950. Oddly enough, both Palka and Madrigal did it against – you guessed it – the Kansas City Royals.
0.8
Luis Robert has had a heck of a start to his career. While putting up video-game like numbers at the plate and stellar defense in the outfield, Robert has found himself tied for 3rd in fWAR in all of baseball. His 0.8 fWAR ties him with Aaron Judge and is just behind Shane Bieber and Mike Yaztrzemski. Quite a start to his rookie campaign.
11
On the current 30-man roster, the White Sox currently have 11 players who were originally drafted by the team. At almost 40% of the current roster, this speaks to the recent successes of the player development staff, especially on the pitching side. If the White Sox do not have to spend long-term on bullpen arms, it will allow them to allocate resources more effectively to other areas of weakness as they look to build a championship team. This is a very good thing.
95
Something I found fascinating while looking back at Lucas Giolito’s start from Thursday. Giolito threw 85 pitches in that start. A whopping 81 of them (95%) were either a fastball or a changeup. It speaks to two things: 1) Giolito still might not be feeling himself, but 2) He still has the ability to dominate with less than his best stuff. It is incredibly surprising to me that the Indians struggled as much as they did despite having about a 50/50 shot at knowing what was coming, considering Giolito threw 41 fastballs and 40 changeups. The power of tunneling, friends.
Moment of the Week
I’m cheating on this one, because there are going to be multiple moments this week. The White Sox had an awesome week of rookie callups with Nick Madrigal and Luis Robert making their debuts. After a slow start, Nick Madrigal turned in a four-hit performance on Sunday, while Luis Robert has had anything but a slow start, slashing .351/.385/.595 through his first nine career games. That translates to a pretty solid 178 wRC+ for Robert and a .419 wOBA.
If Robert and Madrigal can make these continual positive contributions early on in the season, the White Sox will find themselves in a great place come the end of September.
The Week Ahead: Brew Crew & Indians Come to Town
Monday: Carlos Rodon (0-1, 12.27 ERA) vs. Brett Anderson (0-0, 0.00 ERA), 7:10 CT
Tuesday: Lucas Giolito (0-1, 6.52 ERA) vs. Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 1.59 ERA), 7:10 CT
Wednesday: Adrian Houser (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Dallas Keuchel (2-0, 3.38 ERA), 7:10 CT
Thursday: TBD vs. Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 7.36 ERA), 7:10 CT
Friday – Sunday: Series vs. Indians…. Starters TBD, but assumedly Cease, Rodon, Giolito
Enjoy the Week, White Sox Fans!
Featured Photo: Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) / Twitter
The added bonus with rookies Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal is that they each play elite defense at a premium position. Even if they struggle at the plate they can provide the team with positive results on the playing field which helps their pitching staff.
Although the White Sox have only swiped one base early on, both Robert and Madrigal have the ability to post double digit SB’s which could impact their offense in close ball games down the stretch. We’ve already seen some other instances with their ‘aggressive’ base running paying off for the club, something that can also force defensive mistakes.