As the 2019 regular season nears its end, here are some developments to keep tabs on for the White Sox:
Tim Anderson leads the American League in batting average and looks to become the first White Sox player to win the batting title since Frank Thomas in 1997. In addition to the obvious need for Anderson to collect hits, another thing to watch is his plate appearances: players need 3.1 plate appearances per team game to qualify, or 502 by the end of the season. White Sox players currently require 431 plate appearances to qualify, and Anderson has 432. If he misses multiple games late in the year, his eligibility could suffer. It seems like he can only afford to miss a few games the rest of the way, and will need to maintain his superb hitting.
ON FIRE ? ??pic.twitter.com/qXhc69AP8V
— Sox On 35th (@SoxOn35th) September 5, 2019
Eloy Jimenez is looking really good at the plate. One might say he’s… primed for a monster finish to the season. Last season, Yoan Moncada turned in a strong September and then broke out in 2019. Could Jimenez be on a similar path? If he looks anything close to what he has shown in this Cleveland series, his September will be a spectacular finish to his rookie year.
Zack Collins is back from AAA Charlotte with a new stance and new approach at the plate. He still takes plenty of walks, but is simply swinging more often at hittable pitches. While his first stint with the Sox was extremely flukey, he is still likely a better player than now than he was then, so it will be interesting to see if his adjustments can make his stats look a little nicer by the end of the year.
Dylan Cease struck out 11 batters over 6.2 innings the other night. It was his best outing of the year, and if he can continue to locate his off-speed pitches that well, he will have a very encouraging finish to the year. He only has a few starts left, so be sure to tune in when he’s on the mound.
Obviously, there are many more things to watch for: whether Moncada can cap off his breakout year on a positive note, Danny Mendick‘s production, Reynaldo Lopez and his inconsistency, plus much more. The development of Cease, Collins, and Jimenez will be important, however, and Tim Anderson’s place in the batting title race gives us something fun to keep track of over this last month of games. Hopefully, this is the last season where we have to find meaning in September games outside of wins and losses.
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