The White Sox will soon welcome Eloy Jimenez back to the lineup, which would potentially cut into the number of designated hitter at-bats available to breakout slugger Jake Burger. With Yoan Moncada holding down third base (Burger’s natural position) and Jimenez taking many DH at-bats in addition to some work in right field, the White Sox are getting Burger some reps at second base, manager Pedro Grifol tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The experiment is “past the exploratory stage,” per Grifol — a strong indication that Burger will indeed slot into the lineup at second base at least occasionally. Logging work in the outfield is not under consideration at this time due to Burger’s history of Achilles injuries, but he’ll be mixed in at third base, second base, first base and designated hitter.
The White Sox’ desire to keep his bat in the lineup is understandable. Despite fanning in an untenable 32.4% of his plate appearances, Burger holds a robust .257/.315/.634 batting line thanks to a hefty 10 home runs in 111 trips to the plate. Burger has seen a massive 31.3% of his fly-balls clear the fence for a home run. While it’s unlikely he can sustain quite that level of power output — Aaron Judge had a 35.6% homer-to-flyball rate in 2022 and was the only hitter in baseball to even top 26% — there’s plenty of legitimacy to Burger’s power surge. Statcast ranks him in the 85th percentile of MLB hitters in terms of average exit velocity, and he’s in the 93rd percentile for hard-hit balls and the 99th percentile for barreled balls.
Beyond a pure desire to keep Burger in the lineup, the Sox are surely motivated by the catastrophic production they’ve received from the second base position so far in 2023. Elvis Andrus, Hanser Alberto, Romy Gonzalez and Lenyn Sosa have combined to take all of the team’s at-bats at second base this season. That group has combined for an unthinkably bad .144/.188/.207 while playing the position. Chicago second basemen have posted an astonishing single-digit wRC+ of 5 — indicating that they’ve been 95% worse than an average hitter when weighting for home park and league run-scoring environment.
Second base has been a black hole in the White Sox’ lineup all season, and while Burger likely won’t be an average defender at the position — he’s considered well below average at third base — the Sox are content to trade off some defensive shortcomings to bolster their run production. That’s been a familiar refrain for the Sox in recent seasons, as they’ve regularly trotted out poor defensive alignments — e.g. Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets in the outfield — in the name of improving the offense. Of course, that approach was one of many reasons the Sox fell shy of expectations in 2022; last year’s White Sox ranked 24th in MLB with -17 Outs Above Average, 27th in Defensive Runs Saved (-35) and dead last in Ultimate Zone Rating (-40.5). Only the rebuilding Pirates and Nationals made more errors.
The organization’s hope heading into the season was for a more well-rounded, better defensive product on the field. The Sox let Jose Abreu walk in free agency, thus clearing the way for Vaughn to return to first base after he’d rated as one of the game’s worst outfielders. Andrew Benintendi was signed to shore up left field. Andrus, long a well-regarded defender at shortstop, was brought back to handle second base. Top prospect Oscar Colas isn’t seen as an elite defender but was expected to be an upgrade over the Sheets/Vaughn/Jimenez carousel in right field and was given the Opening Day nod at the position.
As it stands, however, the Sox are only a marginally improved defensive club. They’re still in the bottom third of the league in DRS, UZR and OAA. Andrus hasn’t hit a lick but has played a sound second base, so swapping him out for Burger would weaken one of the few solid spots around the field in order to help beef up a lineup that ranks 20th in runs scored, 20th in home runs, 19th in batting average, 27th in on-base percentage and 20th in slugging percentage.
Jimenez’s return and continued at-bats for Burger figure to boost some of those offensive rankings. But the White Sox, who ranked as one of the game’s best defensive teams as recently as 2020, are trending toward a third straight season on the opposite end of that spectrum.
Wow
Burger is the best hitter in MLB, while at home. Seriously. Crazy split.
You weren’t kidding. 4 hits and 20 strikeouts in 12 games on the road. Crazy numbers, for sure.
I relish the idea of Burger at 2nd, I hope he has the mustard to cut it & can ketchup to the expectations of a great 2nd baseman. Given enough time I hope he can graduate from Burger to Meatloaf, he will do anything for love (of the game)
Burger at 2B, that should be fun. Another reason to watch the White Sox.
It would make far more sense to have Moncada take reps at 2b not Burger.
Not if you have seen what Moncada did there the last time he played 2B. Moncada is a well above average 3B and he has been solid this year offensively when not hurt. Keep him there. As mentioned, 2B is a black hole, don’t waste resources at other positions that are viable to plug it.
This is the third straight season that the Sox have played Band-Aids at 2b and they have shown no desire to fix it. They lost Madrigal – and I don’t care how he’s playing for that other team – after 2020 for no good reason and have paid for it ever since.
I’m sure the Cubs could be convinced to send Madrigal back to the Sox.
I’d like to have the 2020 version of Madrigal back. He got hurt and the Sox gave up on him, trading him for that has-been Kimbrel, who had a 5.49 ERA with the Sox. They traded him to the Dodgers for Pollock, who opted out after last season. So the Sox got nothing in that trade, and we haven’t had a second baseman since that regrettable trade.
I don’t disagree with what you’re saying about 2B, but moving Madrigal the way Hahn did was actually brilliant. He acquired the most effective reliever at the time for a player who once again shelved due to a second significant injury, and had shown a disturbing downward trend two of his “plus” attributes; his defense and his Baseball IQ.
Hindsight, it honestly was a wash.
They have needed a second baseman for 3.years. Why can’t our front office do their job.
The Mariners will give you Kolten Wong for a White Castle gift card.
No way Those aren’t real burgers.
Yeah but here in the Pacific Northwest we don’t have any White Castle at all, the closest one is probably in Chicago. So it’s kind of a novelty item. I had to go check one out when I first went back east just to see what the hullabaloo was all about. The 3-Way Chili in Cincy was trippy too.
Maybe they should trade for David Fry from Cleveland , throw in Miles Straw , and get Seth Beer in the lineup too
He has to overcome the mental block of hitting in road games. Between the ears-consult sports psychologist or whatever it takes.
Opponents will be hitting slow balls to 2nd, ground beef outs…
Is the second coming Vaughn still being given lots of rope? Is he a sink or swim franchise guy or will he eventually be traded for a bucket of plastic fungo balls?
They rushed Vaughn through the minors and now he is screwed up. This is why fans shouldn’t be listened to because they always want to see the guy tearing up high A or AA starting in the majors. In reality, it takes time and lots of adjustments to adapt to the big league level. For every one guy that can adapt at the big league level, there are ten guys that cannot. We’ll never know how letting him play a year at AAA would have helped, but I don’t think it would have hurt.
Vaughn is fine. He is hitting, maybe not at the production we all want to see, but he has been beyond serviceable.
He led the team in rbi last season ahead of Abreu, who had obviously started to lose it as the Astros will attest to. Last time I looked Vaughn was again leading the team in rbi, though Robert – who is once again injured – might have passed him.
That’s fair. Kid’s bar was set at “can’t miss” and I cringe on those lil’ nubbers he rolls into when they happen. I gotta remember he got rushed for sure.
If Burger doesn’t perform, he’ll be taking it from the fans between the buns…
This team learned nothing from putting Andrew Vaughn at 2B and continues to be incompetently ran.
White Sox are showing signs of life after the coma. Maybe my post of their doom was a bit premature. Maybe. Let’s see how long it lasts.
This team has been a bunch of underachievers for three seasons now. I want the Sox to do well, but Im not going to be too celebratory when they are pummeling the Central this season. I want to see the Sox beat good teams consistently. No offense to the Guardians and Royals, but they are not top tier teams. no one in the AL central is this season… To keep people humble, for all this hoopla this past two series, the Sox are still 9 games under .500. While better than double digits under .500 they have a long way to go, and if they cannot beat good teams then whats the point of a quick exit from the playoffs?
Still a LOT of questions regarding consistency and health as well.
nrd1138: The team that wins the ALC – the weakest division in bb – never wins a PO series because winning the division means you’ve beaten teams that are even worse than you are. But the way I see their ten game losing streak is, as Tommy Lasorda said, a team is going to win one-third of their games and lose one-third of their games. It’s what they do with the other third that will determine where they finish. Those ten games are part of the at least one-third of their losses. It’s just that they came all at once that makes it look worse than it is.
Well, when you look bad against really good teams, it does not really matter how one spins the losses. Losses are losses. Its also the way the team performed (or didn’t in their case). I know the next excuse those will use: Injuries. Well this core has not been all healthy for even 1/3 of a season over the past 3 years. I do not see that changing now. Anderson will likely be hurt again, same with Moncada, Robert and Jimenez will be healthy.. maybe for 30 days (each or maybe combined), then back on the DL (excluding Jimenez and Robert’s current injuries that is). This team is fool’s gold. I mean they have played well over the past 2-3 weeks and have gains only about 4 games in the Win/loss column (still 9 under .500). I guess those are hoping that beating up on teams in the Central will make them be better, but no, they will only look that way. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.Will the Sox be entertaining? Yes, at times. However, at the end of the season you need to be good to get deep into the playoffs, not just being happy to be there.The only hope the Sox have is that Gio and some other guys look good enough to move for prospects (even though Hahn will be the guy doing the trading)
The REAL truth is the Sox are temporarily moving Burger to 2B until Moncada’s next trip to the IL.
Eloy is due back in a week…so probably thnlen, I’d guess
First I want to say that I’m wearing my 1981 Ron Leflore jersey. Not the vintage tigers one that he wore for a few years . So no Jake Burger story or sighting with this post. So I was playing a round of golf a few days ago at the Beverly country club. Great course by the way. So I was hitting the ball pretty well up until the 11th hole. So I shanked the tee off shot and it landed by a tree. So needless to say it was the perfect time to take a piss. So I was by a huge bush and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Former whitesox ace Mike Sirotka was doing the same thing. We chatted for a minute and he gave me some golf tips. True story and you heard it here first
Zzzzzzzz
At least he’s moving his phony stories around out of restaurants to other places. Maybe when he’s old enough to drink it’ll be a bar.
White Sox have played Vaughn and Eloy in the OF, Grandal behind the plate. Obviously, defense is not a priority. That said, they need a way to keep his bat in the lineup.
The Sox are definitely a team of DH’s
White Sox should have signed Jean Segura, he was available and he he wasn’t expensive either.
He’s also having a terrible season, so it is surprising that the White Sox DIDN’T sign him.
The Sox are determined to try to win something – anything – with players who aren’t good enough to play for anyone else. They have virtually nothing in their farm system and Reinsdorf won’t spend any money to buy needed players. This isn’t even a rebuild. It’s a patch job.
Fair and accurate write up, good job Steve!
The worst collection of iron gloves on one team since the 1962 Mets?
Of course a team full of redundant, poor defensive bat first one dimensional hitters is going to have dilemmas like this.
I admit trying Burger at 2B would get me to tune in more often. I love Burger’s moxie, power bat, and free swinging approach, and I think he could be at least serviceable at 2B for a series or two (at home!).. However, Romy is nearly elite in the field and has begun to hit a bit, while Lenyn Sosa is elite at 2B and continues to hit bad AAA pitching, so 2B cannot be the spot for Burger. I’d prefer Burger excluseively at DH, or 3B when Moncada invariably misses time (he always seems to be limping or walking tenderly!?!). Burger’s bat must be in the lineup especially vs righties, as he is nearly their only hitter who barrels RHPs, though Robert is finally coming around.
Were the SOX to truly commit to contending longer term, someone must be traded out of their deep DH pool…Eloy would be my preference. A desperate contender missing a RH power bat might overpay for Eloy despite his injury history. I suspect a team like the Padres, Phillies, Dbacks, or even Pirates might cough up some nice prospects for him. Dealing Vaughn must also be considered if he could bring back a blue chip prospect..
That said, SOX only hope to contend (in the division) is the continued dominant pitching they’ve gotten over the last 13 games. Provided Cease, Kopech and Gio have turned a corner, and Hendriks/Crochet returns are successful, their staff could become a real strength. Then,,maybe just maybe, the SOX could contend in the Central despite their horrid start, no matter what’s at second.
Time for the Rangers to swoop in and snag an outfielder and Joe Kelly for a couple of our bazillion middle infield prospects. Justin Foscue anyone?
Vaughn should be dealt before whatever shine he has left has worn off; he’s never going to be the 30+ hr guy that Sox fans were promised. Play Burger at 1st along with Sheets and let Jimenez DH.
Why risk injury to a good bat (DH) to play a position 2b that might get him injured. They are wondering what to do with Eloy that’s why. Time to trade TA, Moncada, Eloy for guys who will play at least 120 games. Romy and Sosa are better fielders so you end up with guys who are terrible fielders that eventually don’t play because of injuries.