White Sox Spring Training Competitions To Watch: Second Base
Baseball season is fast approaching. White Sox pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on February 15th, while the rest of the team reports on February 20th. Spring Training is always exciting as rosters take shape before the impending season, but this year there will be some added intrigue in Glendale.
Second base, right field, and the back end of the rotation are up for grabs, resulting in significant roster battles that will determine multiple Opening Day starters. Let’s dive into each battle and who has the edge entering Spring Training.
The biggest question mark is at second base, a position the White Sox once again failed to address. The White Sox made a few supplemental moves to try and add to the competition during Spring Training. Entering camp here is the second base ranked in order of likelihood of winning the job.
- Romy Gonzalez
- Hanser Alberto
- Lenyn Sosa
- Erik Gonzalez
Romy Gonzalez
Gonzalez is considered the favorite for the job. However, his body of work isn’t overly impressive. He is a career .241 hitter, has an above-average arm, and is considered one of the faster players in the MLB, per his Statcast rankings. However, in his first extended opportunity in the big leagues, he slashed .238/.257/.352 with two home runs and just 11 RBIs.
His struggles at the plate were not limited to the major league level. In 33 games at Triple-A Charlotte, he hit .198/.281/.339 with four home runs and just ten RBIs. Nothing jumps off the page about Gonzalez, and the White Sox don’t seem to have much confidence in him either since they have brought in two veteran second basemen to compete for the job. Lenyn Sosa will also have a chance to earn the job.
Hanser Alberto
Hanser Alberto, who received a non-roster invite to Spring Training, has the best chance to challenge Romy Gonzalez. The 30-year-old spent the 2022 campaign with the Los Angeles Dodgers and slashed .244/.256/.365 with a pair of homers, nine doubles, and a pair of triples in 159 plate appearances.
Alberto has good bat-to-ball skills and rarely strikes out. He has a career 12.2 strikeout rate which is astonishing when you consider his low 2.3 career walk rate. In 2019 his 9.1 percent strikeout rate ranked in the top one percentile in all of baseball, while his 2.9 walk rate ranked amongst the bottom one percent of the league.
While the low strikeout rate is admirable, his free-swinging approach doesn’t produce much power. He has reached ten-plus homers just once in his career and has a career slugging percentage of just .380. From 2019-20 average exit velocity ranked in the bottom three percent of the league in back-to-back seasons. Last year his average exit velocity was just 82.9 mph.
The fact that the Dodgers are vying for a World Series and decided to decline his $2 million player option and settle for a $250K buyout is a red flag. He also doesn’t hit for much power, which is something the White Sox desperately need.
Lenyn Sosa
Lenyn Sosa’s offensive potential gives him the next best chance to take the job. He entered the 2022 season as the White Sox fourth-ranked prospect. His 6’0 foot 185-pound frame gives him more power than most middle infielders, and scouts say that Sosa owns some of the best hand-eye coordination and bat-to-ball skills in the White Sox system.
If he reaches his full potential, he could be a 15-20 home run guy at the MLB level. He doesn’t swing at many bad pitches in the minor leagues and hits the ball hard. He does not get himself out by making weak contact, but he does not walk much. His minor-league resume is impressive. In his first 257 at-bats in Double-A, he hit .331 with 14 home runs, 48 RBIs, and posted a .933 OPS. These numbers were enough to grab the front office’s attention, who called him up once news broke that Danny Mendick was lost for the season.
Sosa struggled during his small sample size in the show. In 35 at-bats, he had just four hits with one home run and one RBI. His final slash line was .114/.139/.368. Because of his limited opportunities, it is hard to write off Sosa just yet. He has the highest ceiling out of all the second basemen on this list.
The issue with Sosa is on the defensive side. Despite having a strong arm, his range leaves a lot to be desired. Most of his games in the minor leagues have been spent at shortstop. In five seasons, he amassed 42 errors and a .969 fielding percentage. His reliable hands and solid arm strength will make him a serviceable second baseman, but he is better suited for the hot corner, not the middle infield.
Erik Gonzalez
Meanwhile, Erik Gonzalez owns a .189/.268/.216 slash line at the MLB level. He spent the majority of his 2022 season with the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. He performed well, slashing .284/.336/.373 slash and showing some versatility in the field. He appeared in all four infield positions. However, only one of those innings was at first base. Unfortunately for him, the White Sox already has a high-paid utility man in Leury Garcia.
He tends to chase a lot of pitches and has a high strikeout rate. His career K% is 24.5 percent, which is 2.4 percent higher than the MLB average.
Gonzalez’s best bet to crack the roster is with his glove. He has produced a plus DRS mark at all four infield spots and plus OAA marks at both shortstop and third base. Baseball Savant has his arm strength listed as slightly above average, and his OAA in 2021 ranked in the 84th percentile. Even with that versatility, it is hard to see him being better than Leury Garcia.
His offense provides the White Sox little to no value, and he will be a long shot to make the team. The reason the White Sox signed him was likely to fill out a roster spot in Triple-A Charlotte.
