The White Sox as a whole play their first Cactus League game today, which means the White Sox as individuals collect their first stats today.
There continues to be not much meaning one can draw from them. By and large, the only stats with weight to me are strike zone numbers. Matt Davidson struck out a ton last year, while Tim Anderson didn't walk once. Chris Beck struggled to miss bats, while Anthony Swarzak had no such issues. These things held up over the long haul.
Otherwise, between the hitter-friendly conditions, the wild variation in quality of opponents and the general small sample size caveats exacerbated by rust, there's just way too much noise. Even walks and strikeouts aren't to be wholly trusted, but swinging at and throwing strikes feels like a more reasonable request to make of players, even early on.
When you look at the leaderboards from last year, the other results tend to create false hopes.
Highest batting average, regular work: Tyler Saladino, .367
Saladino was first in line for second base after the surprise release of Brett Lawrie (there's an update on him here, kinda). He might've been a placeholder for Yoan Moncada regardless of his performance, but he lost his job to Yolmer Sanchez before that by hitting a homerless .178 over 281 plate appearances. It's worth noting that he also led the team in slugging percentage (.692) during Cactus League play.
(Had Kevan Smith not lost the title on the last day of spring, we'd be talking about how a great preseason foreshadowed a triumphant comeback story for a guy who'd been outrighted over the course of the offseason. And I suppose we just did.)
Lowest batting average, regular work: Todd Frazier, .163
While Frazier didn't have a bad White Sox career, the low average -- and all the pop-ups that tied it down -- greatly diminished his impact. He didn't create any illusions for a real rebound in this department during the spring.
Hits: Jacob May, 22
Charlie Tilson's injury forced the White Sox to give May a long look in March, and he held up over the team's third largest sample of plate appearances (71) to hold off non-roster veteran Peter Bourjos. May won the center field job with a .319/.338/.478 line, although the plate discipline numbers (two walks, 15 strikeouts) told the real story in short order.
Home runs: Nicky Delmonico, 5
Delmonico's 2017 push toward popularity started at Camelback Ranch, as he hit .266/.347/.594 with encouraging strike zone numbers (seven walks, eight strikeouts). The White Sox kept running him out there, as he finished with the second-highest total of plate appearances with 72, foreshadowing future interest from the club.
In terms of impact per plate appearance, Delmonico ran neck-and-neck with Danny Hayes, who also showed up on the leaderboard for ...
RBIs: Jose Abreu, 16
... as his 15 RBIs finished one behind the leader despite nearly 30 fewer plate appearances.
Hayes hit .318/.354/.545 over 44 plate appearances during the spring, and stories of a leg kick from a successful abbreviated Triple-A season gave him similar underdog appeal. He and Delmonico both continued their battle with hot starts in Charlotte after losing out on the DH job to...
Walks: Cody Asche, 10
... who had come to the Sox with 371 MLB games under his belt. He had the markings of a AAAA player, but unlike the Delmonico types, he didn't need regular playing time in Charlotte to aid his development. The Sox hoped they could get some short-term lefty pop and patience after Asche hit .289/.429/.667 in the spring, but the 17 strikeouts over 56 plate appearances won out. He hit just .105 with 21 strikeouts over 51 plate appearances with the Sox, and now he's looking to rally with the Royals.
Strikeouts: Matt Davidson, 25
Davidson struck out in 37.9 percent of his plate appearances during spring training.
Davidson struck out in 37.2 percent of his plate appearances during the regular season.
Innings: Reynaldo Lopez, 19⅓
Lopez had the smoothest spring training of the White Sox' top pitching prospects, posting a 3.72 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 18 baserunners allowed over 19 1/3 innings. He also had the smoothest season of anybody in Charlotte, although Carson Fulmer, who was hit hard in Cactus League play, had a stronger opening to his season in April.
Strikeouts: Zack Burdi, 17
Burdi led all White Sox pitchers with 13 appearances, which also represents his innings total. He was a little erratic -- three homers, eight walks, 6.92 ERA -- but the inconsistency gave the White Sox ample reason to slow his fast track and deploy him to Charlotte. Alas, even more patience is required since the Downers Grove product had Tommy John surgery in July.
Lowest ERA: Cory Luebke, 0.96
Luebke came to the White Sox on an NRI with a realistic shot at a bullpen job at some point during the first half, since the White Sox were short on credible high-minors lefties. He had an encouraging spring -- masked by three unearned runs -- and stayed behind in Arizona to build up arm strength. He joined Charlotte in May, but after two games, he realized he no longer could get up for the grind and retired.
Highest ERA: Zach Putnam, 15.43
With the exception of 2014, when Putnam separated himself from other non-roster invitees with a strong spring, the Arizona air wreaked havoc on hist stuff. Everybody knew the deal by this point -- ignore Putnam's Cactus League stats and just hope he can stay healthy.
Sure enough, Putnam came out dealing when the games counted, racking up nine strikeouts to just three baserunners over his first 8⅔ innings.
Those happened to be his only 8⅔ innings, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in June. The White Sox non-tendered him after the season, and he hasn't yet found work with another club.
