Most baseball fans are surely aware that not a lot is going right for the White Sox. They are currently 3-22, the worst record in baseball. But there are some hopeful signs with at least one player on the roster: catcher Korey Lee.
Now 25 years old, Lee was a first-round pick of the Astros, selected 32nd overall in 2019. As he climbed up the minor league ladder, he earned a reputation as a glove-first catcher. In terms of his offense, he clearly had some power but the production was fairly hollow apart from that.
In 2022, he played in 104 Triple-A games and hit 25 home runs. However, he also struck out 28.5% of the time and only walked at an 8.1% clip. Since he was playing for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, his .238/.307/.483 batting line only translated to a wRC+ of 90.
That production was 10% below league average overall but is around par for a catcher. He also got to make his major league debut that year but clearly did not get out to a roaring start in the big leagues. His first 26 plate appearances led to a batting line of .160/.192/.240.
He was sent back to Sugar Land in 2023 and took a step back. He got into 68 games for the Space Cowboys and hit just five home runs. He lowered his strikeout rate to 24.8% but his walk rate also ticked down to 5.6%. His .283/.328/.406 line led to a wRC+ of 77.
In spite of the tepid offense, the Sox decided to take a shot on him. When trading Kendall Graveman at last year’s deadline, they flipped him to the Astros for Lee straight up. His bat did not improve in the immediate aftermath of that deal. He hit .255/.309/.275 in Triple-A, striking out 40% of the time, and then .077/.143/.138 in the majors.
Coming into 2024, Lee still had an option remaining and the Sox clearly intended to use it. They grabbed a couple of more experienced catchers in Martín Maldonado and Max Stassi and were seemingly going to break camp with that pair, as Lee was optioned on March 20. But then Stassi required an Opening Day stint on the injured list due to hip inflammation, so Lee was recalled.
So far, the results have been good at the major league level. We’re talking about 46 plate appearances over 17 games, so small sample size caveats definitely apply, but Lee is slashing .279/.326/.465 for a wRC+ of 129. His 6.5% walk rate is a bit below average but he’s also only striking out a 19.6% clip so far.
Looking under the hood also shows some encouraging signs. Lee has a barrel rate of 9.7% thus far, almost triple the 3.3% rate he had over 2022 and 2023. His expected batting average, on-base and slug are all up.
Perhaps the most encouraging development is in the plate discipline department. He had previously swung at 36.9% of pitchers outsize the zone but has dropped that number to 29.1% this year. Even when he does chase, he’s missing less, as his 69.6% contract rate outsize the zone is a big jump from his previous rate of 51.3%.
On pitches in the zone, he’s up to an 86.8% swing rate compared to 78% in his previous seasons. His called strike rate was 11.6% coming into the year but is down to 8.2% this season. He had a 15.8% swinging strike rate in the majors in the previous two years, and even higher in Triple-A, but is at 13.6% so far this year.
This is obvious baseball stuff, but swinging at more pitches in the zone and chasing less, while also whiffing less often, is going to lead to fewer strikeouts. Again, it’s a very small sample size but it’s progress in the area that has been Lee’s biggest weakness.
Scouting reports on Lee have long highlighted that he has a cannon for an arm and is a strong blocker. Perhaps there’s still some room to grow in terms of framing but the overall defensive package is considered to be above average. At the plate, the power has been there but the strikeouts were a concern. Whether he can continue to show the positive signs from the early weeks of this season will be something for the Sox to monitor.
In the short term, it’s possible the Sox may have a difficult decision to make. Stassi started a rehab assignment early in the year but was injured again after a backswing hit his hand, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He hasn’t yet resumed his rehab assignment but will presumably be ready to rejoin the team at some point.
Perhaps they would consider optioning Lee to the minors when Stassi is back, but cutting Maldonado should also be on the table. He has a strong reputation in the league for his work with pitchers but he’s approaching his 38th birthday and is awful at the plate. He hit .183/.260/.333 for the Astros over the past three seasons and is down to a line of .048/.091/.071 so far this year.
Even if they value Maldonado’s intangibles enough to overlook that offense, moving on from Stassi could also be a consideration. He was acquired from Atlanta in the offseason with that club paying Stassi’s salary down to the league minimum, meaning the Sox aren’t financially committed to Stassi in any way.
In the long term, it will be quite nice for the Sox is Lee can hang onto this improved plate discipline. He came into this year with just 71 days of service time. Assuming he stays with the big league club for the rest of the year, the Sox will still be able for five more seasons after this one.
He seems destined to be joined on the roster by Edgar Quero at some point. Acquired from the Angels in the trade that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Angels, Quero is effectively the inverse to Lee, as he is considered to be more of a bat-first catcher.
In 1,190 minor league plate appearances thus far in his career, Quero has drawn walks in 15% of them while only striking out at an 18.8% clip. He’s also hit 33 home runs and slashed .280/.407/.458. At Double-A this year, he already has five home runs and has a line of .294/.387/.627 for a 197 wRC+. Since he spent all of last year in Double-A as well, a promotion to Triple-A should be imminent. He’s currently ranked the #58 prospect in the whole league by FanGraphs while Keith Law of The Athletic recently gave him the #67 spot.
The glove-first Lee and the bat-first Quero should make for a nice pairing behind the plate for the Sox if all goes according to plan. Lee hits from the right side while Quero is a switch hitter. The inverse profiles should allow the club to deploy them situationally, depending on whether offense or defense is preferred on a given day or a given situation. Almost no club has an everyday catcher these days, so the Sox could split the playing time, with the designated hitter slot also giving them a way to have both in the lineup with regularity. If one of these two backstops takes a step forward and is ahead of the other, the team could tip the scales of the playing time accordingly.
For fans of the Sox, there’s not a lot to feel good about in the present. That means looking to the future is the best bet at finding hope or even just a reason to follow the team. When it comes to the catching depth, there seems to be a bit of sunshine peeking out over the horizon.
No positives. I would rather have every teams future over the white Sox. Maybe the Rockies and Anaheim are tied
Sure there’s a positive in the Pale Hosers having Lee.
DontGetzIt can trade him for 6 AAAA guys who will be cheaper, especially as they will all be out of baseball in 4 years.
Maldonado looks every bit his age out there and is probably gone when/if Stassi returns
Knowing the Sox they’ll keep Maldonado and send Lee down.
Maldonado led Sox to victory last night!
And they will use that as an excuse to keep him over Lee. That might be the only good thing be does this year.
Because tonight is a news dump because everyone is talking Bears and NFL draft heads will roll this weekend. Nobody should buy tickets until this mess is cleaned up!!
Lol…Cute article. That’s like saying the house is on fire but shed didn’t catch
Schriffen came up with this.
Yes, thanks MLBTR for finding SOMETHING about the Sox to write about. It couldn’t have been easy. Lee might be improving analytics-wise (blagh!), but he’s just not a very good C. But that’s one of the things I like about MLBTR: you guys write about every team no matter how bad they are. Next Sox article: The records of futility they set. They already have one. I’m sure, with a little less effort, they’ll set many more
The White Sox are a disgrace to MLB. 3rd largest market in the US. MLB should force them to sell. The only way that rotten culture will change.
It’s not like they aren’t spending money.. they are just terrible at it.
$75M on Benintendi isn’t money. When Kansas City, a much smaller market and mediocre team is spending $288 million on their marquee player.
Let’s upset the apple cart here. Similar to the French football leagues, set up MLB so there are 16 teams in League 1 and 14 teams in League 2. If you suck in League 1, you are relegated to League 2. If you perform well in League 2, a team can ascend to League 1. Yeah, League 2 is AAAA. So what???
Jean-Claude: All teams in Europe do that. The only difference is how many teams are relegated. That means there are always two races to watch. To do that with bb, AAA teams would be the second division, AA the third, etc. The top three AAA teams would move up to the majors while the bottom three major league teams would drop down to AAA. It might sound a little out there, but as of today one of the major league teams that would be relegated would be the White Sox. I mean, they’re playing at a AAA level anyway.
And the whole corrupt & rotteness city of Chicago itself sure can’t change culture anywhere. Are they flying Mexicos country flag over Chicago’s city flag yet? If not just wait 6 months or so, bc I’m sure the citizens will have to start paying for all the new Hispanic babies being born in 9-10 months. Star players will never sign in Chicago. It’s a dumpster fire, but then wait until the DNC convention arrives…ohh my that’s gonna be a fiery (like flaming) event.
Nobody commenting tonight because nobody cares anymore.
How deep did they have to dig to write this gem lol. Not even a traderumor. 29 teams have guys like this that no one cares about but are otherwise… average… major leaguers.
Mlbtr stopped covering trade rumors solely like 15 years ago
Don’t care. This isn’t even a transactional article.
They’ve been doing articles like this for years. Are you new here? If you don’t like something then don’t open it and move on
Still don’t care. It’s a dumb article. Seeking silver lining in anything from the South Side right now is just a waste of time.
Guess what? We don’t care about whatever drivel you feel compelled to post, rinse, and repeat.
I’m not a writer for mlbtr
I actually like Garrett Crochet as some potential positive development. He’s actually pitching much better than his image stats like ERA show. His xERA sits around 2.19 and more realistically, his FRA is 3.39. He’s below league average for Barrel % and his K-BB% is very good at 25.6%.
Same. White Sox with a rare win on Crochet and demoting Kopech to the bullpen.
If Crochet has pretty good numbers at the trade deadline, White Sox should trade him. Just go full rebuild, get as many prospects as you can, and have 100 loss seasons, so be it.
I’m against trading Crochet. Not bc of his numbers because of a young piece to build around in the future. Sure there farm system is only ranked #20th which isn’t great but it’s better than nothing and they have depth as well.
Aiden,
I’d agree with that sentiment if there were more bright spots on the roster to build around. But I understand where you’re coming from, I can respect that.
They will have a 100+ loss season anyway, so having one or two fairly good pitchers or position players won’t matter. They need to build on those, but that isn’t something that this ownership/management seems to know how to do. If they keep up their current winning percentage of .154 they will finish 25 and 137.
So trade a 24 year old for another 24 year old?
Positive development? He is now getting lit up like a Christmas tree.Walking guys and giving up homers is never going to help you. No adjustments and with no accountability I doubt he improves.
Edgar Q is the real story here. IMO, a switch hitting version of Francisco Alvarez. Very young. Body still filling out. His D will improve.
In a last ditch effort to appease Ohtani, the Angels cut ties with a good one. Nice pull by Sox.
If he can win ROY whenever he debuts. That could dramatically change the future of the White Sox.
OMG, Aiden! You sound more and more like a Pollyanna cub fan with every post. Quero probably won’t be called up any time soon so likely won’t win ROY. Even if, in some bizzaro world, he did win it, one more draft pick isn’t going to turn this mess into a winner.
Just like Tommie Agee done, right?
The Sox have a bunch of ‘AAAA’ guys in the minors. Im not going to be impressed until what these guys do in the minors translates to the majors AND can adjust when the league adjusts to them.
I said could not can. Sox can’t develop a hitter but do average with pitchers. Their PD system benefits pitchers for some reason.
Party at Avenger’s
Unlike moat folks I’ll say thanks for this article. As a fantasy player in a 2 catcher league with a wasteland of a waiver wire it’s helpful to know about a player like this who, checks notes, is currently zero percent owned. Might be up a bit soon.
Moat folks are all wet.
This is a pet peeve of mine, but what does a “clip” mean and why is it constantly used after a percentage? When did this start? Aren’t there other words in the English language to use rather than use it like 4 times to describe something?
I believe clip comes from clipper like the ship. It was related to rate of speed. Then over time it seems to have become related to the rate at which anything is done. I do agree that other terms would make the read better.
Clip’s origin is much more nefarious and refers to the minimum percentage illegal gaming houses in the 19th and early 20th centuries had to take in each each business day. The term “clip joint” referred to the gaming parlors that had the reputation for taking a higher than average percentage normally because they rigged their games more than their competitors. Funny how “clip’s” usage moved from seedy and crooked gambling in the past to acceptable usage today in sports parlance.
Well dang. That some cool history shiii. Thanks for the info @brokenheart.
I’ve also heard a similar origin to yours. Maybe it’s a combo of both. Gambling and nautical jobs go hand in hand. Sounds like “rate” of the ship correlates with the “rate” of the house.
Whatever young talent the Sox have means nothing without strong leadership. It’s obvious that Grifol isn’t cut out for this job. I tried to be open minded last year but I’m over it. I was also hopeful that the changes made to the coaching staff would help but it’s clear that it hasn’t. I’m sure that the chairman will only hire personnel that’ll work on the cheap.
Now write an article on the need to fire the manager. No one wants the job I get it but White Sox will be lucky to win 30 games
Grifol was a poor hire right off the hop, but even a top-drawer manager ain’t gonna squeeze many more wins out of these sad sackers. More importantly, the fire-the-manager card will be held until later as there are so many other cards that can be played before it’s used. For example, there is the Clevinger and Pham ready for MLB action card. There is the Junior returns card and with it the hot debate if a player who plays half a season can win the MVP. There is the buzz about which Sox players will be dealt by the TDL for future superstars card. Colson Montgomery is a card to himself. At some point the Monty card will be revealed to much fanfare and excitement. There’s the September call-ups card; see tomorrow’s stars today. There’s the buzz about which A-1 free agents will sign with the Sox card. Don’t forget the Sox want a new taxpayer-funded stadium or they’re leaving town card. So many cards to put in play before the can Grifol card is put into play. Besides, if Grifol were fired today, how excited would you be about Charlie Montoya being the interim skip? Big yawn for me.
It’s almost impossible to lose 120+ games. Remember the 1988 O’s and 1997 Cubs started even worse than the 2024 White Sox. Both of the teams didn’t come close to the 1962 Mets. I expect the White Sox to have the same record as the 1988 O’s or the 1970 White Sox.
After 25 games the ’97 Cubs were 6-19. Not a huge upgrade, but not worse than 3-22. Looking at the Sox schedule, when do they get their 6th win? May is packed with trouble. Tampa, Cleveland, Yankees, 6 vs Toronto, Baltimore and Milwaukee.
I do think a number of bats will take off. Vaughn won’t hit .160 all summer. Eloy won’t hit .200, and so on. I doubt the pitching gets better. In fact, it will probably get worse. And Nastrini isn’t the answer. Cannon isn’t the answer. Noah Schultz isn’tthe answer. Montgomery isn’t the answer.
You are right, 120 is hard to do. Right now 110+ looks very attainable.
The pitching didn’t really get upgraded tbh. The reinforcements are coming sooner rather than later. Tommy Pham, Mike Clevinger and possibly Brad Keller. Clevinger makes the rotation a bit better. Not every player is going to have a career worst season.
“The reinforcements are coming sooner rather than later. Tommy Pham, Mike Clevinger and possibly Brad Keller.”
Okay Schriffen…
Toady was the day Sox got 6th win. Your pointless post didn’t age well Woody
How did this age?
“I’ll predict 72-90 or better for Sox. Soroka & Feddie will have great season. +35 HR for both Eloy & Robert, 25+ HR for both Vaughn & Dejong. Moncada 18+ HR, Pretty damn good Defense across the board. Eloy & Vaughn will both come into their on this year. Call me crazy but look me up after the season.”
Here’s the receipt link sweatheart: mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/offseason-in-review-chi…
24 wins away……it’s a cinch
18 games under a month into the season, and you’re all puffy chest. You going out to dinner with Schriffen tonite?
Wow.. .279/.326/.465 after a whopping 46 plate appearances.. Now you see how horrifically bad this club is when you have this as a ‘positive’ article.
No adjustments by the coaching staff, and no accountability in this org. Grifol should have been 86’d the minute he admitted he had no clue about the team being leaderless in the locker room after 2/3rds into last season and gossip by former players exposed it. A club so bad, mind you, that the miser ‘Chairman’ is blinking first and offering to pony up money toward his precious new stadium. The Bears have a better chance of getting their stadium with taxpayer money (one way or another) simply because there is only one Football option in Chicago. Reinsdorf is out of fans down in Springfield. If the last rebuild was not torpedoed by this ‘genius’ the Sox may have had a slim chance to get their stadium as ‘The Chairman’ wanted it.
If the rebuild was a success they could have owned Chicago tbh if it wasn’t for the TLR hire. Even if it succeed Jerry would still be a bad owner.
nrd1138: And to top it all off, reinsdorf is blaming the stadium for low attendance (They’ve already had a $2 ticket day to any seat in the park. Of course, that game was rained out). It couldn’t be the fact that he’s got the worst team in bb which is exactly what he wanted by hiring Getz’ and spending nothing on prospects. If they put paying more taxes to finance this billionaire’s dream of building another stadium on the ballot he better get used to where he is right now.
Also, it’s true there is only one FB team in Chicago but there is only one bb team, too. Even though the Sox suck, there’s no way in hell I’d ever watch a cub game let alone become a fan.
If you want to see MLB players, come to the Nort’ Side.
Lester: I can go you several better than that. Watching Sox games, I got to see the Braves, Rangers, Etc. And starting tonight, I get to check out TB. Sox fans knew what we were getting for years to come when they traded Gio and Reynaldo last year. Seeing better teams (which at last count was 29) is the only reason to watch Sox fans. Plus Eloy, who is hitting well, and the Keystone Kops defense Getz’ is so proud of. Unfortunately, I learned from watching English League Soccer that you never give up on your team. As a Sox fan, you think that’s easy?.
Aiden – I honestly don’t think there was ever any chance of Chicago being a “White Sox town”. A 100-loss Cubs team will outdraw a playoff White Sox team.
“they could have owned Chicago tbh”
Over the top optimistic as usual. I don’t think you understand the size of the gap in fanbases.
What I meant to say it could of been a White Sox town.
I understand what your point, but it’s a dream. Under your assumption, a bunch of Cub fans would have become White Sox fans.
The Cubs won it in 2016, and were a top team from 2015 – 2020. Are you a Cub fan right now?
It just doesn’t work like you’re suggesting. I don’t think it’s any secret that Chicago is a Cub town.
I know it’s very early but who do you guys think will be the honorary white Sox all star this year?
The statue of Nellie Fox.
Hurt’s jock strap.
The writer lost me by claiming there was a real decision to be made if and when Stassi is ready to play for the Sox and the club doesn’t want to carry 3 catchers. Who should go? That’s a real question? It’s not for me, and I doubt anybody else. When Maldonado was signed, the consensus was that the team could survive with his .130 BA as long as his defensive game didn’t degrade too much. The guy is hitting about .050 with regular ABs! You’ve got the promising kid catcher exceeding expectations and when Stassi returns, the vet to mentor Lee and calm the pitchers down. I hafta think that Maldonado is much more useful to the Sox at this time as a special guest coach who bounces between the big team and its minor league affiliates to work with the catchers and pitchers. Will Maldonado have value as a player at the TDL? Might have limited value if teams with playoff intentions have catchers out of action for an extended time. But good teams with healthy catchers in late July have no use for Maldonado. Last thought, how about flipping him straight up for Abreu and let the players return to their places of glory before calling it a career? How many Sox fans would worry bring Abreu back would stunt Vaughn’s development? Bringing Abreu back has got to be worth the club selling a couple of hundred extra tickets per game for the first couple of weeks following his return.
What is the point of this article if not just a cash grab funded by Lee’s agent? There is no transaction news or rumor here. It’s just some stats regurgitated from publicly available sites to say “hey, my guy is good, let me try and get him an extension or more arb money.”
Just like the recent infusion of ad posts here, a shameless attempt to get money dough. And yet another weak attempt by MLBTR to be like Fangraphs.
Stay in your line: you’re a transactions site, not a stats site. There is nothing novel about this article: “ohhhh so-and-so is good, here are some stats I found that anyone would see if they check is page on Statcast.” Stop this nonsense.
I hope that duo works out for the white sox. The guy who owes them a lot of money is yasmani grandal! Nice to see Korey Lee succeeding now. It must have been a frustrating road to get here.