Lack of love for Sosa

[WhiteSox2023]

10 hours ago, WestEddy said:

A lot of teams run a lot of garbage out there at 1B. One NL playoff team might even be starting Andrew Vaughn. The best defensive 1B in 2025? Ryan O'Hearn. 

I think that if Lenyn Sosa hit 25 HRs, he'd be fine. MLBTR wastes their keystrokes on analyzing Josh Bell's free agency outlook. 

I’m all for it.  Frees up some of the positional redundancy and avoids what I feel would probably be a waste of money on a guy like O’Hearn.  Is it crazy to think that Sosa could put up a 2+ bWAR like O’Hearn if he’s at 1B instead of 2B and his defense isn’t holding him back as much?

[oldsox]

If Sox brass want Sosa in left next year, they would have arranged for him to get reps in LF in Winter Ball.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

On 11/19/2025 at 6:27 PM, vilehoopster said:

Why is he odd man out?  Why isn't Meidroth the odd man out? 

That's the entire point of my post. Sosa hit 17 more homers last year, often times clutch homers. Sosa improves every year. I keep saying it, even with his mental lapses, he was a 46th percentile defender, barely below average. It's much more likely Sosa will be a average defender than Meidroth ever hit 15 home runs. I'll go further: I would say it's much more likely Sosa will hit 30 home runs than Meidroth hit 10 next year (wouldn't you posters agree?)

Someone brought up Sosa's not taking walks. Come on, that might be of all things last year, the one area Sosa improved in the most, especially the 2nd half of the season. Is there any reason to think he won't take even more walks next year, again he improves every year. 

Actually, I and the board sort of had this conversation last year before spring training. After the trade with his walk metrics, many people already had Meidroth at the starting 2nd baseman for last year. I would bring up Sosa's five homers in September in 2024 and tell people, "Guys we need his power."

I think you're making a good case for him except the OBP is just terrible. You e got to be more than a . 295 OBP when your BA is .265

You're right the Sox cant afford to trade his power. And as much as they want to improve defensivelyand get more left handed on the infield they still need power and guys to trade. That might mean giving Sosa and Vargas their AB's and hope the bats and gloves of both show enough progress to be worth more than they are now. All of the young position players need to hit the ground running.  Cannot get off to an atrocious April start again. Robert, Teel, Vargas,  Sosa, C. Montgomery, Quero, Meidroth, Baldwin need to hit the ground running.

Pitchers have to do their part too. It'd be nice to get some quality starts and rack up some saves. 

[nrockway]

Sosa could be Jeff Kent. I mean, probably not, but his “bad defense” is definitely overstated. He’s a better defender than former top prospect Jackson Holliday. His inability to lay off literally every pitch can be fixed. It’s worked for a bunch of other guys. To me, he’s shown more than (doesn’t) Chase. 

[PaleAleSox]

5 hours ago, nrockway said:

Sosa could be Jeff Kent. I mean, probably not, but his “bad defense” is definitely overstated. He’s a better defender than former top prospect Jackson Holliday. His inability to lay off literally every pitch can be fixed. It’s worked for a bunch of other guys. To me, he’s shown more than (doesn’t) Chase. 

To me he seems more like a defensive idiot instead of a “bad defender.” He does some dumb s%*# out there. 

[WhiteSox2023]

5 hours ago, nrockway said:

Sosa could be Jeff Kent. I mean, probably not, but his “bad defense” is definitely overstated. He’s a better defender than former top prospect Jackson Holliday. His inability to lay off literally every pitch can be fixed. It’s worked for a bunch of other guys. To me, he’s shown more than (doesn’t) Chase. 

Holliday’s minor league career began in 2022.  Sosa started in the minors in 2017.  Many more years in the minors to improve his defense over Holliday’s.

[Chicago White Sox]

Sosa’s future with the team all comes down to where can he play on the field.  As a 1B / DH, he doesn’t hit RHP well enough to be an everyday guy.  As a 2B, that 101% wRC+ in the 2H against RHP would work just fine if paired with solid defense.  For now, I see him as a bench piece you get into the lineup against LHP but who can also serve as a nice everyday fill-in somewhere in the event of injury.  That could change with a little improvement in his BB rate or 2B defense.  Until then, I’d have Meidroth be the primary 2B and give him a chance to fully prove himself before Antonacci forces his way into the infield mix.

Full Season:

• Total: 100 wRC+ | 3.3% BB rate | 23.3% K Rate | .170 ISO | .309 BABIP
• vs. LHP: 103 wRC+ | 2.9% BB rate | 20.7% K rate | .164 ISO | .317 BABIP
• vs. RHP: 98 wRC+ | 3.5% BB rate | 24.3% K rate | .172 ISO | .306 BABIP

Second Half:

• Total: 106 wRC+ | 3.7% BB rate | 23.5% K Rate | .203 ISO | .284 BABIP
• vs. LHP: 121 wRC+ | 2.9% BB rate | 17.4% K rate | .231 ISO | .280 BABIP
• vs. RHP: 101 wRC+ | 4.0% BB rate | 25.3% K rate | .194 ISO | .285 BABIP

[Bob Sacamano]

1 hour ago, PaleAleSox said:

To me he seems more like a defensive idiot instead of a “bad defender.” He does some dumb s%*# out there. 

This. It’s not “bad defense.” Some dumb play happens almost weekly. At least.

[bmags]

2 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

To me he seems more like a defensive idiot instead of a “bad defender.” He does some dumb s%*# out there. 

yeah, this is a big thing. I think Lenyn's bat has been so great compared to what I'd expect, but if you picture meidroth last year you picture that crazy creative slide to second base around a tag. You picture Lenyn it's not stepping on first base by like 3 feet when fielding a throw. 

Lenyn was unfortunate to spend his life since age 16 in the white sox org. Kinda does that.

[southsider2k5]

4 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

To me he seems more like a defensive idiot instead of a “bad defender.” He does some dumb s%*# out there. 

Like literally zero baseball IQ.  Dude has been in the Sox system since July 2016, and still knows NOTHING about how the game is played at a high level.

[2Deep]

I just don't want to see us trade Sosa and then him become another Marcus Simien.  

People here ripped Simien for his defense and plate discipline..........only to see him become a all star shortstop/2B 

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Like literally zero baseball IQ.  Dude has been in the Sox system since July 2016, and still knows NOTHING about how the game is played at a high level.

You wonder how much of this situation is on Sosa or on the Sox minor/major league staff for being unable to teach the fundamentals.

I'm guessing both are in play here Sosa and the organization. 

[Princess Dye]

but... Bs love Sosa

[Chicago White Sox]

54 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

I just don't want to see us trade Sosa and then him become another Marcus Simien.  

People here ripped Simien for his defense and plate discipline..........only to see him become an all star shortstop/2B 

No one ever ripped Marcus Semien for his plate discipline…dude rocked like a .400 OBP in the minors.  Defense was certainly questioned, obviously prematurely in hindsight.

[Chicago White Sox]

6 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

You wonder how much of this situation is on Sosa or on the Sox minor/major league staff for being unable to teach the fundamentals.

I'm guessing both are in play here Sosa and the organization. 

Is the issue his fundamentals or is he just spacey?  The Sox certainly don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but not everything is necessarily their fault.

[southsider2k5]

31 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

You wonder how much of this situation is on Sosa or on the Sox minor/major league staff for being unable to teach the fundamentals.

I'm guessing both are in play here Sosa and the organization. 

Guys who have come through the entire White Sox experience do not seem to rank highly in baseball IQ in general, but Sosa is in a league of his own.  You would THINK this could be fixed by coaching, but some guys just never figure it out.

[nrockway]

he's a replacement level second baseman. we've been over this a number of times. he was as "bad" defensively as ozzie albies, colt keith, better than gleyber torres, julien, india, kristian campbell, plenty of other regular 2bs. his mediocre defense is fine because his bat is that much better than meidroth's. if you can get 25ish home runs out of your second baseman who can at least play the position, this is a good thing.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

7 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

To me he seems more like a defensive idiot instead of a “bad defender.” He does some dumb s%*# out there. 

Lack of experience most likely and need more reps. 

Baldwin has the same problem in the OF. He's very fast but if you check his range its pitiful. He's literally learning how to judge fly balls so his jump must be atrocious. Then when he does get there on time I've seen him take his eyes off the ball and clank a few. 

[southsider2k5]

34 minutes ago, nrockway said:

he's a replacement level second baseman. we've been over this a number of times. he was as "bad" defensively as ozzie albies, colt keith, better than gleyber torres, julien, india, kristian campbell, plenty of other regular 2bs. his mediocre defense is fine because his bat is that much better than meidroth's. if you can get 25ish home runs out of your second baseman who can at least play the position, this is a good thing.

I know the urge is to fall back on stats, but I think in this specific case, his mistakes don't always show up in the stats.  Missing throwing to a base, throwing to a wrong base, and forgetting to cover a base aren't really trackables at this time.

[WhiteSox2023]

1 hour ago, nrockway said:

he's a replacement level second baseman. we've been over this a number of times. he was as "bad" defensively as ozzie albies, colt keith, better than gleyber torres, julien, india, kristian campbell, plenty of other regular 2bs. his mediocre defense is fine because his bat is that much better than meidroth's. if you can get 25ish home runs out of your second baseman who can at least play the position, this is a good thing.

The guy had the best offensive year in his career and was still only worth 0.8 bWAR.  Do you think his bat makes up for his very frequent botched plays?

[Bob Sacamano]

I still would like to them just stick him at 1B and try to make him a decent defender there. Maybe he’s a guy who ends up being able to hit 30+ and the bat plays.

[southsider2k5]

19 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

I still would like to them just stick him at 1B and try to make him a decent defender there. Maybe he’s a guy who ends up being able to hit 30+ and the bat plays.

I still like the idea of showing up for spring training with him in LF and seeing how it goes.  Maybe less thinking works for him.

[WhiteSox2023]

21 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

I still would like to them just stick him at 1B and try to make him a decent defender there. Maybe he’s a guy who ends up being able to hit 30+ and the bat plays.

Agreed.  We already have a guy we hope develops with the bat that we want at 2B and a glut of other infielders.  Just move Sosa to 1B and be done with this pipe dream of signing Murakami.  Also, O’Hearn probably won’t be worth the money he is ultimately paid.

[Lukakke Appling]

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I still like the idea of showing up for spring training with him in LF and seeing how it goes.  Maybe less thinking works for him.

It’s not a bad idea. I always suspected he takes his at bats in the field with him and loses focus. Left field he can just catch the ball and hit the cutoff man.