The White Sox have signed infielders Brandon Drury and Tristan Gray to minor league contracts, the team announced last week. Both deals include non-roster invites to Spring Training, adding to the preexisting infield competition.
Drury, 32, is coming off of a subpar year with the Los Angeles Angels, where he slashed .169/.242/.228 in just 92 games of action, posting a dreadful -2.0 bWAR and a 35 OPS+.
This signing continues the recent trend of the White Sox bringing veterans into Spring Training coming off rough seasons, but Drury is not far removed from his past success. He registered at least 20 home runs and an .800 OPS in both his 2022 and 2023 seasons, splitting time between the Reds, Padres, and the Angels. He was also the winner of the inaugural National League Silver Slugger for the utility position in 2022.
Drury has previously worked with White Sox hitting coach Marcus Thames, as Thames was the Angels hitting coach in 2023, a season in which Drury experienced some consistent success at the plate. He posted a .262/.306/.496 slash line with 30 doubles and 26 home runs, playing some of his best baseball under the coach’s guidance.
When it comes to the field, one of Drury’s strengths is his versatility. He has commonly split time between second, third, and first base as a utilityman, giving the White Sox some much-needed flexibility. In his two years with the Angels, he logged 148 games at second base, 61 at first base, and 16 at third base. He also played a small set of games in the outfield, although it’s been four years since he logged over 10 games beyond the infield in a season.
As for Gray, the 28-year-old is coming off a 2024 campaign where he played primarily in Triple-A for the A’s and Marlins organizations. The bulk of his action came with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, where he hit .245/.318/.459 for Miami’s affiliate. Having just 36 major league plate appearances under his belt, Gray figures to serve primarily as organizational depth in Triple-A Charlotte.
With one of the big storylines heading into Spring Training for the White Sox being the complexity of filling out the infield positions, Drury and Gray’s additions into the competition are low-risk, high-reward moves for the organization. If we can see the 2022-23 version of Drury as a productive hitter and an average-to-plus defender return for the White Sox, he could find himself earning a spot on the Opening Day roster.
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