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Generally, if half of your batting order, it's not good.
But for the White Sox, there's some good news – a silver lining perhaps shiny enough to be considered a platinum one – behind a clear demarcation of haves and have them in their everyday lineup.
Let's start with the truth: Timothy, Yoan Moncada, Leury Garcia and Eloy Jimenez are fighting for a .335 batting average through the season's first 14 games. Meanwhile, another quartet is off to an objectively bad start, with Welington Castillo, Yolmer Sanchez, Daniel Palka and Yonder Alonso batting a combined .100 with just 13 combined hits through the season's first 14 games.
The first half of that truth for the team and its fans, Anderson and Moncada, in particular, with big starts to follow up 2018 seasons and Jimenez arriving in the big leagues with some success, punctuated by his two-homer night Friday in New York.
But the second half of that is the cause of much consternation, Sanchez and Palka, in particular, serving as near-automatic outs, in the eyes of the fan base, in the season's early going. Castillo and Alonso, it should be pointed out, have made some positive contributions, both reaching base at a .333 clip despite the scarcity of base hits.
(The left-out man is Jose Abreu, who has been rather "meh," from a standpoint production, in his first 14 contests, with just a .200 batting average, a trio of home runs and 10 RBIs. He's Jose Abreu , of course, and he's earned a reputation that forecasts his numbers will end up being nothing to worry about.)
The obvious conclusion to the point of being a member of the team has a negative impact on the position of a member of the team. And yet though the White Sox got some much-needed positive vibes by taking the Yankees over the weekend, they still sit at 5-9 and in fourth place in an aggressively weak AL Central.
To be fair, this is not exactly out of character, as the preseason expectations outside the clubhouse did not include the White Sox crashing the postseason this October. Certainly, though, it's not good news for anyone, inside or outside the home clubhouse at Guaranteed Rate Field, who's harbored hopes of a 2019 surprise, and any continued slow starts could undoubtedly spark changes to that everyday lineup.
So where's this platinum lining you were promised?
Well, it has to do with Rick Hahn's overarching hope for the 2019 campaign, one of Kansas City's premieres. The general manager has said that the White Sox approach to their final results is more important than what they are. Meaning, if the White Sox do not make the playoffs but get good times out of Anderson and Moncada and Jimenez (and Carlos Rodon and Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito, who are separate from this conversation about their status as pitchers), that will be mighty positive news for a franchise looking to make the jump from rebuilding to contending in the near future. However, if the White Sox win a lot of games on the backs of Alonso and Castillo and the currently injured Jon Jay, veterans on the short-term stays, while the young players continue to grow, it's not as good news.
"Regardless of what the total ends up being at the end of the year," said Hahn said back in January. "If it's short-term veteran stopgaps that are carrying the bulk of the water and getting better, that's great and makes it easier, but it does not necessarily reinforce the long-term progress.
"If the win is going to be a little bit more important, then it's going to be a little bit better than that." to be more if not more important than the actual win total. "
Well, the train is what's happened so far. Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Moncada (the two balls he blasted in Cleveland come to mind, followed by two days later by the game-winning hit in the home opener) and Jimenez (the two homers he drilled on a rainy night in The Bronx).
That's the kind of progress of this organization, which is expected to be part of the core of a perennial contender. Anderson still leads baseball with a .429 batting average, Moncada has cut down on the strikeout rate that feels to 217 Ks in 2018, and Jimenez has peppered singles around and through the diamond while still learning the big league game.
Rick Renteria has been unsurprisingly asked about this issue and is looking forward to this point in the season.
On Anderson: "I think it's just finally coming into play, his understanding and trusting of himself." He's working very, very hard. I think he's really working very hard on doing that. I think he's really working very hard on doing that. give him a chance to perform as well as he does. "
On Moncada: "I think it feels really good when you're looking at these guys." You can not get enough of a game in the game, maybe it's on the mound, defensively, on the bases, whatever the case might be. "
On Jimenez: "He's getting much better off at his area." think the trust again, do not forget the ball, do not worry about it, do not worry about it He really wants to be a real talent, really good hitter. "
And down on the farm, with Luis Robert and Zack Collins off to thundering starts. Dylan Cease is pitching very well, too, in his first taste of Triple-A.
This White Sox team may not be a threat to the American League this summer. Even if the Red Sox are scuffling, the Yankees are injured and the Indians are not so much scared, the Mariners and Rays have shown how difficult it will be for the White Sox to challenge whichever teams end up the Junior Circuit's upper echelon.
But at the moment, even for a 50 percent of its members, it is possible to get a hit on that steady rate, which is coming from the right place. It might be better for the team than the team and the fan base is hoping for, but it could be a lot of chances for a long time.
In a rebuild, that's about as important as it gets.
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