This is the first Month in a Box that felt like it should've been a two-parter. The All-Star break didn't just cleave July into separate chunks on the calendar, but it also may have contributed to two vastly different kinds of White Sox baseball.
The White Sox started July by winning three of their first five games before the All-Star break, starting with a doubleheader sweep against Detroit and a series split with the Cubs.
After the break, they went 4-15, and looked every bit as miserable as their record, especially at the plate.
The White Sox hit .242/.288/.373 as a team in July, good for a league-worst .661 OPS (Detroit was second-worst at .685). That team OBP dropped to .274 after the All-Star break, and a line of .193/.259/.307 with runners in scoring position. Sox pitchers were actually middle-of-the-pack in run prevention, with the ERAs blasted by a few lopsided scores, but even their better efforts were saddled with lackluster offensive showings.
Look upon the month and despair.
Team Performance
- Record: 7-17
- Run differential: -49 (82-131)
- Standings: Third, 19 GB
- Longest winning streak: Three, June 30-July 3
- Longest losing streak: Seven, July 12-18
- Largest margin of victory: Eight, July 22
- Largest margin of defeat: 11, July 13 and July 16
Hitting Leaders
- Batting average: .317, Jon Jay
- On-base percentage: .361, Yoan Moncada
- Slugging percentage: .558, Moncada
- wRC+: Moncada, 140
- Home runs: 6, Moncada
- RBIs: 15, Moncada
- Walks: 10, Moncada
- Strikeouts: 35, James McCann
- Stolen bases: 4, Leury García
Pitching Leaders
- Wins: 3, Iván Nova
- Losses: 3, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Covey
- Innings: 31⅔, Reynaldo López
- Strikeouts: 35, Giolito
- Appearances: 11, Jace Fry and Josh Osich
- Relief innings: 13⅓, Osich
Coming and Going
- White Sox debuts: Dylan Cease, AJ Reed, Ryan Goins, Jimmy Cordero
- White Sox departures: Yonder Alonso, José Rondón, Nate Jones
- Going up: Cease, Reed, Adam Engel, Cordero, Carson Fulmer
- Going down: Fulmer, Daniel Palka, Juan Minaya, Zack Collins, Charlie Tilson, Dylan Covey, Ryan Cordell
#SoxMorgue
- Eloy Jiménez: Right ulnar nerve contusion
- Kelvin Herrera: Strained right oblique
- Yoan Moncada: Strained right hamstring
Awards
Most Valuable Player: Yoan Moncada
It's good for Moncada that what appears to be an average month -- .291/.361/.558 -- is good enough to stand atop the list of White Sox production. It's bad for the White Sox that nobody got hotter. He reached 20 homers for the first time in his career, including a game-tying homer off former Detroit closer Shane Greene in the 10th inning on July 3, and three extra-base hits in victory over the Twins on July 28 that snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Least Valuable Player: James McCann
AJ Reed could have received this "honor" for his body of work over 13 games, 12 of which he started. Reed hit .150/.222/.225 with 17 strikeouts in 45 plate appearances. That said, McCann was only marginally better (.520 OPS) over way more chances, and he drew just three walks to 35 strikeouts over those 35 plate appearances. McCann made an All-Star team with his first half, but now everybody's bracing to see how nasty regression looks.
Most Valuable Pitcher: Reynaldo López
Speaking of regression, Lucas Giolito was another surprising All-Star who came back to Earth in July, but fortunately López stepped up in his absence. He threw three consecutive strong outings to open the second half, including a 10-strikeout effort over eight innings in a loss to Miami. His month ended with an arduous effort against the Mets, but even then he found a way to limit the damage. Limiting opponents to two homers over five starts helps. Honorable mention to Iván Nova, who was as effective over the same amount of innings, but without the peripherals or future importance.
Least Valuable Pitcher: Dylan Covey
Covey made three starts in July, and he couldn't complete the first inning in two of them. He opened his month by giving up six runs over two-thirds of an inning to the team that drafted him, a dud that he blamed on being too healthy and amped up. He ended July by giving up five runs over 14 pitches to five Minnesota Twins. The White Sox optioned him to Charlotte after that effort, but once again, his absence didn't even last a week.
Fire Man: Jace Fry
Fry started looking like his 2018 self during the month of July, with roughly equal success against lefties (2-for-16, one walk, seven strikeouts) and righties (2-for-16, four walks, five strikeouts). He allowed just one unearned run over his 9⅔ innings, all the hits were singles, and he stranded nine of 10 runners he inherited.
Gas Can: Josh Osich
The White Sox' third lefty had a lot of mop-up work ahead of him, and wear it he did. He allowed 10 runs over 13⅓, including a whopping five homers. The gopher balls set him apart from guys like Kelvin Herrera, who ended the month on the injured list, and Juan Minaya, who was designated for assignment.
Bench Player: Ryan Goins
Compared to the various actual prospects at Charlotte, the 29-year-old journeyman infielder seemed like an uninspiring use of a 40-man-roster spot. That said, he's brought some balance to the lineup, and not just because he's left-handed. He stepped in for Tim Anderson and hit .324/.432/.595 over 13 games (nine starts), matching Anderson's season walk total over that time with seven.
Stench Player: Charlie Tilson
Sure, Welington Castillo hit just 4-for-32 with 12 strikeouts and underperformed McCann in the process, but Tilson went just 1-for-17 over seven games and put Eloy Jiménez on the disabled list with a warning track collision before he was optioned to Charlotte.
Gold Glove: Leury García
Yolmer Sánchez is probably the choice for individual defender at a position because he's always the choice, but this seems like an opportunity to note García's flexibility. He was the chief replacement for Anderson at shortstop until Goins arrived
- Right field: 82 innings
- Shortstop: 78 innings
- Center field: 33 innings
- Left field: 19 innings
Hands of Stone: Charlie Tilson
Even before he ran into Jiménez to jeopardize the second half's biggest priority, he multiple other bad routes and ill-advised dives that make him an unlikely candidate for the clumsiest White Sox defender, especially after Jiménez showed more confidence in his own decision-making in left field.
Timeline
Back in the game: Out of the Luis Robert penalty box, the White Sox announce agreements with five international prospects at the opening of the signing period, including $2.4 million for Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez. (July 2)
A win for Dylan: Despite a first inning that bordered on catastrophic, Dylan Cease ends up lasting five innings and picking up the win in his MLB debut. He's the first Sox rookie in more than five years to record a "W" in his debut, as Scott Carroll was the last to accomplish the feat back in 2014. (July 3)
Stolen valor: The White Sox sweep a doubleheader with Detroit when Jose Abreu hits a three-run walk-off in the 12th, but it was made possible because Ryan Cordell hit a pair of homers in regulation, and also made a leaping catch at the wall to save a run. (July 3)
Abreu's appeal: Jose Abreu pushes for an answer about his future before the offseason when he says, "I don't want to leave here. If I would be the owner, I would sign myself here." (July 4)
A split, but no cup: The White Sox wrap up the first half with a respectable 42-44 record after homers by Eloy Jiménez and Jose Abreu help beat the Cubs 3-0. (July 7)
All-Star games: The White Sox are well represented in the All-Star Game, as Lucas Giolito throws a scoreless inning and James McCann contributes an opposite-field single to a decisive two-run seventh for the American League. Jose Abreu grounded into a double play in his only opportunity. (July 9)
Charlotte can't contain him: Luis Robert homers twice in his Triple-A debut, including a grand slam, to set the tone for his International League career to date. (July 12)
Harbinger: The White Sox open the second half by getting swept at the Coliseum in Oakland, capped off by Chad Pinder scoring from first on a throwing error by José Rondón that rolled into the cavernous right-field foul territory. (July 14)
Not even close: Ryan Cordell, who started diving for balls he had no chance to get, turns a Whit Merrifield double into an inside-the-park homer in an embarrassing 11-0 loss. (July 16)
At least he GIFed well: A.J. Reed only had one moment with the White Sox before he was optioned to Charlotte -- a massive three-run homer at Kauffman Stadium -- but at least it made a great GIF. (July 17)
Swept again: The White Sox drop to 0-6 after the All-Star break after losing all three in Kansas City. (July 18)
Moncada's mad dash: After snapping their losing streak in St. Petersburg the day before, Yoan Moncada makes it two in a row by scoring from first on a Jose Abreu dribbler that sneaked through the right side in the 11th inning of a 2-1 victory. (July 20)
Harold in the Hall: Those who bet the over won big when Harold Baines' induction speech at Cooperstown lasted 9 minutes and 35 seconds. (July 21)
Got the nets: The White Sox become the first team to unveil foul-pole-to-foul-pole netting, but they spend more time putting the ball over the fence, homering four times in a 9-1 victory over Miami. (July 22)
Scouting shift: The White Sox move Nick Hostetler, changing his title from director of amateur scouting to special assistant to the general manager with a focus on major-league scouting. (July 24)
Minnesota Muscle Part I: Lucas Giolito helps the Minnesota Twins make history by giving up four of their five homers, including three to Nelson Cruz. The Twins became the first team in baseball to have nine games with at least five dingers. (July 25)
Minnesota Muscle Part II: Dylan Covey gives up five runs over 14 pitches before he's lifted from his start in the finale of the series against the Twins. It's the first time in 25 years -- to the date! -- that a starter needed that few pitches to give up that many runs. (July 28)
Stop Bunting Part MCXVII: Rick Renteria's White Sox fail on two safety squeeze attempts while attempting to play for the tie in a game they eventually lose to the Mets in extra innings. (July 30)
Putting the "dead" in "deadline": The trade deadline comes and goes, and the only White Sox moved is Nate Jones, whose financial obligations were shifted to the Rangers for international bonus money. (July 31)
