The White Sox re-signed first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. to a minor league contract. He reported to Triple-A Charlotte and is playing tonight’s season opener for the Knights. Wade was in camp with Chicago but released at the end of Spring Training.
Wade is a veteran of parts of seven MLB seasons. He has spent most of the past few seasons as the Giants’ primary first baseman, at least against right-handed pitching. Wade was an above-average hitter as recently as 2024, when he put up a .260/.380/.381 slash line across 401 plate appearances. It was his second consecutive season with excellent on-base marks in a platoon role. Wade combined to hit .258/.376/.401 between 2023-24. Among hitters with 800+ trips to the plate, he ranked 11th in on-base percentage.
Everything went off the rails last year. Wade hit .167 with a .275 OBP over 50 games for San Francisco. They traded for Rafael Devers at designated hitter and eventually signed Dominic Smith to play first base. Wade was designated for assignment as the corresponding move for the Smith acquisition.
The Angels rolled the dice on a change of scenery, acquiring Wade out of DFA limbo in a small trade. They got him into 30 games over two months, but he hit .169/.260/.215 and was released in August. That ended his season with a .167/.271/.254 slash over 242 plate appearances.
Wade had a fantastic Spring Training. He hit three home runs and took nine walks while striking out 10 times over 49 trips to the plate. The White Sox are taking a look at Munetaka Murakami as their primary first baseman. They didn’t have a lot of roster flexibility on the bench. Wade had a few days to see if he could leverage that camp into a big league opportunity before circling back to begin the year in Triple-A with the Sox.
Im so happy Wade is back! He is a great batter. Always puts up a good at bat,pesky batter. Cant believe he cleared!
No hard feelings- welcome back!
Wade ‘went off the rails’? Perfect for this org.. Sox are going to need him to be good after their lackluster 1st game showing, and while its one game, I have to ask, why is Venable pulling Smith after 1 and 2/3 innings? Was he hurt or something, or is this just more inept managing that leads to another 60 win season?
It’s just one game tbh. An OD win or not doesn’t determine the season whatsoever.
Many teams have lost a playoff spot because of ‘one game’.
One game does not matter, until its how many losses in a row exactly? 3, 4, 8, 10? What?
They are at 0-2 now.. When does it ‘matter’, exactly?
Ill say this, its a heck of a lot easier to play ahead in the standings than from behind.
Smith couldnt hit the strike zone.
Smith had thrown over 30 pitches in that 2nd inning when he was pulled. Venable didn’t want to push his pitch count any higher this early in the season, and with the off day they had more flexibility to use the bullpen. (Per his post game comments on the subject)
OK, he can pitch until he is out of his jam (at the very least). Its the only way guys learn, coddling them after only 1 and 2/3 innings does not help that, just overtaxes a BP on day one. Especially when the rest of this rotation is a big question mark.
Kinda surprised the giants didn’t sign him, and further bury Schmitt.
Schmitt is in the roster… played first game. He’s not starting but idk if I call this a bury move 1B is likely Schmitt least valuable position.
Go Lamont.
Where is he going to play? Who is he going to take playing time from ?
Late night LeMonte getting daytime work