White Sox 2020 Grades: Position players

This is the first of two installments in which I’ll be looking back and evaluating all of the players that had a significant role as members of the 2020 White Sox. These grades are more art than science due to the subjective nature of how much expectations for a player should affect their grade. My goal is to balance actual player performance against their expectations and probable role (both short-term and long-term) entering the season. While I may mention postseason performance in a player review, the grades primarily reflect regular season performance.

Per usual, I consider an average grade to be someplace on the C/C+ borderline. 'A' is the top grade on the scale, and 'F' is the lowest.

It was a tough year to set the cutoff for minimum playing time to appear in this review. Last year I used 100 plate appearances, so I figure something around 37 is the cutoff, so everyone from Nicky Delmonico on down is getting the axe. In ascending order of plate appearances…

Leury García (UTIL): 63 PA, .271/.317/.441, 3 HR, 14.3% K, 6.3% BB, 0.6 bWAR / 0.4 fWAR

García's aggregate line was quite good this season, but thanks to the need to have surgery on his thumb, he wasn't available very often. Another ding on García besides health is that he easily had the lowest Win Probability Added on the team, so he tended to rack up his big hits in garbage time. He made an admirable attempt to come back for the playoffs but very obviously was not himself. Leury was missed as an infield reserve and as a non-Mazara portion of the right field picture. Grade: C

Adam Engel (OF): 93 PA, .295/.333/.477, 3 HR, 20.4% K, 3.2% BB, 0.5 bWAR / 0.7 fWAR

The White Sox had given their fans entirely too much exposure to Engel's sagging bat in an everyday role from 2017-2019, mostly due to stubborn indifference to installing anyone better in center field. Finally given a role suited to his skillset, Engel thrived as the short half of a right field platoon and defensive replacement, and he made everyone quickly forget all of those aggravating strikeouts and popups from the dark years. This is a player who has gotten consistently better every year in a White Sox uniform (granted, the starting point was not great!), and fans and organization alike recognized the need for Engel to start each of the three playoff games. The glove was still quite strong, and he even fared well enough against right-handers (.283/.321/.509) to make him the best right fielder on the 2020 White Sox in all situations. Grade: B+

Nick Madrigal (2B): 109 PA, .340/.376/.369, 0 HR, 6.4% K, 3.7% BB, 0.4 bWAR / 0.1 fWAR

Madrigal had about as bad a season as you can have while posting that batting average. For one thing, the .340 number was just as empty as the stadiums the Sox played in, and for another, Madrigal lost more runs on the bases than any player not named Ben Gamel, and it took him just 109 plate appearances to do it. The baserunning gaffes and less-than-polished fielding made Madrigal a frustrating player, especially for someone who was billed as having a strong baseball IQ and solid fundamentals. The blunders in the playoffs exacerbated that sentiment.

That being said, he did hit .340. Madrigal's contact skills were as advertised, and he came through with several big hits in limited time, ultimately finishing fourth on the team in Win Probability Added. He made a pest out of himself both as a table-setter and as a guy no pitcher felt comfortable facing when contact would likely lead to runs. Grade: B-

James McCann (C): 111 PA, .289/.360/.536, 7 HR, 27.0% K, 7.2% BB, 1.5 fWAR / 0.8 WARP

I'm hesitant to even include the WARP figure this time because Baseball Prospectus somehow assigned that batting line just a 112 DRC+ (just a slight notch over Yasmani Grandal's 108). McCann was excellent this season despite fading badly down the stretch and had stolen Edwin Encarnacion's lineup slot by the time the postseason rolled around. Defensive metrics haven't been too kind to McCann in the past, but both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus gave him much more favorable marks for framing this time around. I'm skeptical of framing numbers this season simply because umpires were not evenly distributed around the league (and because Omar Narvaez finishing first in baseball raises an eyebrow), but at least anecdotally, it seemed to me like McCann was getting more calls than in the past. He deserves a starting job somewhere, and will likely get one. Grade: A

Danny Mendick (UTIL): 114 PA, .241/.281/.383, 3 HR, 21.9% K, 5.3% BB, 0.3 fWAR, 0.6 bWAR

In the wake of Nick Madrigal's injury, Danny Mendick established himself as a popular player among White Sox fans, both due to his #dancingfordubs videos after victories and his willingness to take professional at-bats early in the season while the rest of his teammates insisted on flailing at garbage. First impressions must really stick as lasting impressions, as there was little-to-no frustration directed Mendick's way once his early success gave way to a horrid slump that led to him getting the boot from the roster on September 14. From August 19 on, Mendick mustered just a .595 OPS, including an ugly stretch of eight strikeouts in three games. He could be a useful reserve to have around going forward but seemed overexposed in a starting role. Grade: C-

Nomar Mazara (RF): 149 PA, .228/.295/.294, 1 HR, 29.5% K, 6.7% BB, 0.2 fWAR, -0.3 bWAR

The decision to acquire Mazara was uninspiring at best, and it turned out even worse than expected. Mazara was able to muster just one home run in a White Sox uniform despite the prodigious power potential that has led to him getting repeat chances in the league. There were a couple positives from his season, however. First, his defense in right actually graded out respectably across multiple different metrics (and wasn't horrible on the eyes either) and second, he finished the season on an OK note, hitting .267/.313/.400 over his last nine games and delivering a couple of key hits against Oakland in the Wild Card round. That's not enough to redeem everything else that happened, but it's enough to avoid a failing grade. Grade: D-

Edwin Encarnación (DH): 181 PA, .157/.250/.377, 10 HR, 29.8% K, 8.8% BB, -0.3 fWAR, -0.5 bWAR

Edwin became the latest designated hitter to have his career die on the South Side, and boy was the collapse epic. His strikeout rate spiked from 21.2 percent to 29.8 percent, and his bat couldn't catch up with anything with a hint of velocity. The White Sox wound up leading the American League in home runs, and probably wouldn't have done so without the 10 this guy chipped in, but I'm struggling to come up with anything else positive to say about the Edwin Encarnación experience in Chicago. Grade: F

Yasmani Grandal (C): 194 PA, .230/.351/.422, 8 HR, 29.9% K, 15.5% BB, 1.7 fWAR, 1.4 WARP

At the end of the day, the Sox mostly got the guy they thought they were getting. Grandal chipped in excellent framing from the catcher position to go along with a strong OBP and power. He also brought along his well-documented flaws. Grandal's failure to catch the baseball on critical plays was equally ugly and costly, and it's not accurately reflected in the above value metrics. His strikeout percentage spiked from the low 20s to almost 30 percent, which is a concerning development that merits watching as we head into next season.

On the plus side, Grandal got better at the plate as the season went along. After a concerningly-slow start to the season with the bat, he finally hit his first home run in his 74th plate appearance on August 16, and hit .231/.350/.500 from that date onward. He also had a successful postseason, which has historically been a problem for him. As White Sox free agents go, this was a good first year. Grade: B

Tim Anderson (SS): 221 PA, .322/.357/.529, 10 HR, 22.6% K, 4.5% BB, 2.2 fWAR, 2.2 bWAR

Many wondered how Anderson would fight regression on the heels of a .399 BABIP that led to a batting title. It turns out, the best way to do it is to simply become a better hitter. Anderson's contact was louder this season, and while his .383 BABIP for 2020 is still too high to be sustainable, his ability to hit the ball hard to all fields and beat out infield hits means he'll likely settle in at a BABIP mark higher than what we're used to from most players. His defense at shortstop even improved from 2019 (though it still can't be considered average). A late-season slump bumped him out of the MVP discussion, but this was a wildly successful season for Anderson that was capped off by a stellar postseason performance. He's the engine that makes this team go, and should be for years to come. Grade: A

Eloy Jimenez (OF): 226 PA, .296/.332/.559, 14 HR, 24.8% K, 5.3% BB, 1.7 fWAR, 1.1 bWAR

As was hoped for, Jimenez's late-season success in 2019 was a sign of what would follow. After going hitless in five straight games in early August, Eloy went on a tear, slashing .323/.359/.602 the rest of the way. If there's nits to pick, it's that he still wasn't any good at defense and his tendency to get himself hurt surfaced at the worst possible time, costing the Sox his services for most of their playoff series. Hopefully his walk rate will improve in future seasons, but this was a great year for Eloy and he took the leap that White Sox fans hoped he would take. Grade: A-

Luis Robert (OF): 227 PA, .233/.302/.436, 11 HR, 32.2% K, 8.8% BB, 1.5 fWAR, 1.6 bWAR

An unbelievable July/August (.298/.348/.612) gave way to a sobering September (.136/.237/.173), resulting in the middling line you see above. For much of the first half, Robert was not only in the conversation for Rookie of the Year, but Most Valuable Player as well. Not since Frank Thomas had a top White Sox hitting prospect been this convincing out of the gate, and it was a sight for sore eyes. Nonetheless, the league caught up to him, and the concerns that he might wave at too many breaking pitches down and out of the zone upon arrival in the major leagues eventually proved valid.

Despite the offensive collapse, Robert was extremely valuable as arguably the best defensive center fielder in the game. His weakness going back for balls hit over his head was more than compensated for by his elite ability to move laterally to close the gaps. Even if Robert is not able to improve on the batting line above (which he very likely will), we're still talking about a player who is capable of providing All-Star caliber value for the White Sox. Grade: A-

Yoán Moncada (3B): 231 PA, .225/.320/.385, 6 HR, 31.2% K, 12.1% BB, 1.6 fWAR, 0.5 bWAR

After a breakout season in 2019, Moncada's bat wilted. Part of it was a product of seeing fewer pitches to hit (take that, lineup protection theory), as pitchers stayed out of the zone against the patient Moncada about as much as they did with the free-swinging Robert and Jimenez. However, Moncada also cited challenges with feeling like his old self in the wake of his battle with COVID-19, and he often simply didn't look right on the field. Fortunately, it didn't seem to affect his defense at third base all that much. While I'm of the mind that it was great to see him battle through the aftereffects of the virus as much as he could, this grade does not reflect any leniency, and it'll be interesting to see which version shows up next year. Grade: C-

José Abreu (1B): 262 PA, .317/.370/.617, 19 HR, 22.5% K, 6.9% BB, 2.6 fWAR, 2.8 bWAR

Abreu's contract extension before the season looked like it had the potential to turn into a liability rather quickly. He spent 2018 and 2019 in steady decline (though his RBI numbers held serve because he saved his best hitting for when it counted), and his numbers against right-handed pitchers had become pedestrian (and below-average for a first baseman). All of these concerns seemed valid until Aug. 18, 2020, when Abreu went on a tear the likes of which we'd never seen before. Over the next 30 games, Abreu hit .398/.444/.813, including a stretch of six home runs in a series against the Cubs, which itself included a stretch of homering in four straight at-bats. He even turned in a Gold Glove-worthy defensive season to boot. Abreu's conditioning looked a lot better this season than in years past, and if he can keep himself in good shape, that extension we were worried about could wind up being a strong asset. Grade: A

The Class Rank:

1. Jose Abreu, A
2. Tim Anderson, A
3. James McCann, A
4. Eloy Jimenez, A-
5. Luis Robert, A-
6. Adam Engel, B+
7. Yasmani Grandal, B
8. Nick Madrigal, B-
9. Leury Garcia, C
10. Yoan Moncada, C-
11. Danny Mendick, C-
12. Nomar Mazara, D-
13. Edwin Encarnacion, F

I handed out six 'F's last year. This was more fun.