Don’t look now but the White Sox are looking and playing like a first place team. Sunday’s 9-3 victory completed a three game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The offense is firing on all cylinders.
On Saturday they scored eight runs in the first inning. It was the most runs the White Sox have ever scored in the first inning against Kansas City and the first time they have scored eight plus runs in the first inning since 2002. The pitching has also been excellent this road trip with the starters only giving up a combined one run in five games. White Sox starting pitchers last 5 games: 29.0 IP, 13 Hits, 1 Run, 12 Walks, 28 Strikeouts 0.31 ERA, 0.862 WHIP. The White Sox had it all going for them once again on Sunday afternoon.
Triple-Double
Yermín Mercedes broke seal for the White Sox in the second inning when he lofted a fly ball to center field. It dropped down and the big man raced all the to third for his first career triple.
In the third inning he tacked on two more RBIs. With two outs he laced a double down the line that scored Yoan Moncada and Yasmani Grandal.
Exit velocity was approximately 197 MPH. Have yourself a day, Yermín pic.twitter.com/NkjDo1MjOv
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) May 9, 2021
Mercedes is continuing to build of his Rookie of the Month performance in April, and is now hitting .376 on the season. Jose Abreu also had a fine day at the plate driving home three RBIs and collecting a pair of hits.
Every White Sox starter except Yasmani Grandal recorded a hit on Sunday.
Mendick and Vaughn Flash The Leather
The White Sox outfield has been riddled with injuries. With Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert are scheduled to miss most of the season. Adam Engel has yet to play a game and Adam Eaton is banged up. Because of this the White Sox have had to rely on three infielders to roam the outfield. Leury Garcia is considered to be more of a traditional outfielders, as he has made a living in the MLB being a super utility player.
However the same cannot be said for the corner outfielders. Danny Mendick, whose primary position is second base and shortstop, got the start in right field. He put together a respectable effort and did not misplay any balls on the day.
In left field Andrew Vaughn continues to impress. Despite never playing the outfield in college or the minor leagues, Vaughn was given the assignment to fill in for Eloy Jimenez. He has performed admirably this season, even adding some highlight reel plays. Early in April he robbed a home run and today he added another web gem to his highlight reel.
Whit Merrifield hit a sinking line drive to left and Vaughn dove full extension to come up with the out.
Andrew Vaughn full extension! pic.twitter.com/2kHU2ZzJZL
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) May 9, 2021
Walk This Way
It has been an unusual season for Yasmani Grandal.
Heading into Sunday’s contest against the Royals, Grandal was on an unprecedented walking spree. His previous four games saw him go 0-for-3, with 13 walks, and one sac fly. He has 7 hits and 26 walks this season, with a .121/.388/.259 slash line. Grandal is just the second player in AL history with 13+ walks in a four game span. The other is Babe Ruth.
Grandal tallied another walk on Sunday which moved Yoan Moncada into scoring position with two outs in the third. Yermín Mercedes capitalized by hitting a double which pushed both runs home.
Grandal now has a 30.2 BB% on for the season. This should not come as a surprise however. Grandal has been an OBP god his entire career. Last season he led the White Sox with 30 walks. While his .115 batting average is an eye sore his productive plate appearances make up for it. His wOBA, which measures a player’s overall offensive contributions per plate appearance is .552. His wRC+, which measures weighted runs created, is 269. For context, the MLB average wOBA is .320, and the average wRC+ is100. For a team that is struggling to hit home runs he is a major part of what has been a lethal offense this weekend.
