Month in a Box: The White Sox in April 2021

Travel back to a time where Luis Robert was still healthy and everything seemed possible. Here's a review of the White Sox's first month of the 2021 season.

TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Record: 14-11
• Standings: Second, 1½ GB
• Longest winning streak: Four, April 20-25
• Longest losing streak: Two, April 3-4 and April 15-17
• Largest margin of victory: 11, April 29
• Largest margin of defeat: 7, April 19

HITTING LEADERS

• Batting average: Yermín Mercedes, .415
• On-bace percentage: Mercedes, .455
• Slugging percentage: Mercedes, .659
• wRC+: Mercedes, 218
• Home runs: Mercedes and José Abreu, 5
• RBI: Abreu, 19
• Walks: Yasmani Grandal, 13
• Strikeouts: Abreu, 29
• Stolen bases: Tim Anderson, 5

PITCHING LEADERS

• Wins: 4, Carlos Rodón
• Losses: 2, Lucas Giolito and Garrett Crochet
• ERA: Rodón, 0.72
• Innings: 31, Dallas Keuchel
• Strikeouts: 36, Rodón
• Appearances: 10, Liam Hendriks, Aaron Bummer, Codi Heuer and Evan Marshall
• Relief innings: 12⅓, Heuer

COMING AND GOING

• White Sox debuts: Liam Hendriks, Lance Lynn, Andrew Vaughn, Billy Hamilton, Nick Williams, Jake Lamb
• White Sox departures: Bernardo Flores Jr.
• Going up: Danny Mendick, Zack Burdi, Jonathan Stiever, Alex McRae, Luis González
• Going down: Williams, Mendick, Burdi, Stiever

#SOXMORGUE

• Tim Anderson: Left hamstring strain
• Billy Hamilton: Left hamstring strain
• Dylan Cease: COVID-19 list (negative)
• Lance Lynn: Upper back strain
• Luis Robert: COVID-19 list (negative)
• Garrett Crochet: Upper back strain

AWARDS

Most Valuable Player: Yermín Mercedes

If you got a burger named after you, chances are you made an impression. Mercedes did just that, setting a record with a blazing start, leading the White Sox in most categories of note and seizing the lion's share of the playing time at designated hitter. He shared the team lead in homers, and none of them were cheap. The shortest one traveled 421 feet.

Least Valuable Player: Leury García

On one hand, he's a bench player. On the other hand, Tony La Russa didn't treat him as such, as he received the ninth-most plate appearances on the team. Injuries created some of the opportunities, but García also hit for himself way too often, and with disastrous results (.207/.220/.241, one walk to 16 strikeouts). Yasmani Grandal would've been the front-runner for this nod if García were relegated to more of a bench role.

Most Valuable Pitcher: Carlos Rodón

The no-hitter against Cleveland probably would've been able to sew up this title even if he hadn't thrown three useful-or-better starts around it. That said, posting a 0.72 ERA while throwing five innings each time from the fifth spot made it a lot easier to absorb a disappointing month from Lucas Giolito, and he's a big reason why the White Sox didn't lose more than two games in a row.

Least Valuable Pitcher: Dylan Cease

You could make a case for Giolito, although Tony La Russa's agonizing management of his start against Detroit changed the shape of his month dramatically. He and Cease each threw seven shutout innings in a start, but Giolito faced a tougher opponent in his gem, and he came a lot closer to quality starts in his other outings, whereas Cease couldn't complete five innings before he dominated Detroit. The good news is that it was a pretty good month for the rotation, and the standards are higher than usual.

Fire Man: Michael Kopech

Kopech addressed emergencies in the bullpen and rotation in April, throwing 7⅔ powerful innings in relief before stepping into rotation and delivering three and five innings in a pair of impressive short-notice starts.

Gas Can: Evan Marshall

Marshall had company, as Garrett Crochet was the only other non-Kopech reliever who can say did his job in April, at least before extra innings. Matt Foster had an 11.05 ERA at the end of the month, mostly exacerbated by an outing against Seattle that forced La Russa to recant his decisions afterward. Marshall's brand of ineffectiveness was steadier, as he was scored upon in five of his 10 outings and led the team in FanGraphs' meltdowns stat with four. The three homers are worrisome.

Bench Player: Danny Mendick

Mendick is hanging out in Schaumburg, but not because of anything he did. He went 6-for-16 with five walks over the course of eight games, good for a .524 OBP. None of the other bench players came close to that kind of offensive competency, although at least Zack Collins caught a no-hitter.

Stench Player: Nick Williams

Giving this nod to García feels like double jeopardy, especially since Billy Hamilton and Jake Lamb offered less when viewed by different angles. Nick Williams is off the 40-man roster after going 0-for-10 with four strikeouts. His brand of failure had that je ne sais quoi.

Gold Glove: Yoán Moncada

I'm half-inclined to give this award to Andrew Vaughn, who came out of his first month in left field with only one play he truly failed to convert. Moncada contributed a couple of times to the White Sox's early defensive woes, but during the second half of the month, he resumed looking like the plus defender that earned Gold Glove consideration in 2020.

Hands of Stone: Yasmani Grandal

Nick Madrigal had some regrettable moments and Luis Robert had a fly bounce off his head, but when I think about "hands of stone," I think about Grandal's catcher-interference issue. He has three on his record, and it would've been four if Cleveland didn't accept the result of a ball in play. It was the result of a technique change he made to alleviate a knee issue, and it seemed to resolve itself by the end of the month, but the ordinary framing results and random dropped-ball issues made his worse moments stand out.

TIMELINE

RIP Eloy: The White Sox go to extremes with their Opening Day tribute to Eloy Jiménez, whose ruptured pectoral tendon looks more like a terminal condition already lapsed.

Arby's Night: Yermín Mercedes becomes the first player in MLB history to go 5-for-5 in his first start, driving in four runs from the eighth spot in the White Sox's first victory of the season. He stretche sit to a record-setting 8-for-8 before he's finally cooled off. (April 2)

Canseco's Ghost: Luis Robert wastes no time jeopardizing his Gold Glove defense when he lets a routine fly to shallow center bonk off the logo of his cap. (April 3)

More odd history: The White Sox scored four runs without an RBI for the first time in 26 years by going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-19 with runners on base in a 7-4 loss to the Angels. (April 4)

Workhorse: After his first start died at 99 pitches, breaking a streak of 37 straight starts with 100 or more, Lynn rebounds by throwing a 111-pitch shutout of the Kansas City Royals. (April 8)

Flyin' to the Ryan: Yermín Mercedes sets a White Sox Statcast-era record with a 485-foot homer, and off fan favorite Brad Keller to boot. (April 8)

Mortality against lefties: The White Sox would have stretched their record to 18-0 against left-handed starters since the start of the 2020 season were it not for a blown save by Liam Hendriks, which saddled the Sox with an extra-innings loss that Mike Minor started. (April 11)

Using his head: The White Sox notch their first walk-off victory of the season when Yu Chang's attempt to cut down Yasmani Grandal at second base bounces off Grandal's helmet and into the vacated shortstop position, allowing Nick Madrigal to score from second on the error. (April 12)

An AL Central Acedown: Lucas Giolito strikes out eight over seven shutout innings, but he's bested by Shane Bieber's 11 strikeouts over nine shutout innings. Neither gets the complete game, because it has to be settled in extras, where Cleveland prevailed, 3-0. (April 13)

Rodóminance: The 20th no-hitter in White Sox history is thrown by Carlos Rodón of all people. What's more, it manages to be mildly disappointing because he was two outs away from a perfect game before a too-literal back-foot slider. (April 14)

PERTINENT: Carlos Rodón's no-hitter is delayed gratification, a little ahead of schedule

Suspension-worthy these days: Adam Eaton gets into a light jostling match with the Cleveland infield after he's nudged off second base after his attempt to stretch a single into a double. Because MLB doesn't want benches to clear in the COVID-19 era, Eaton is suspended a game. (April 15)

Everybody loves shortened doubleheaders now: Speaking of the COVID era, the White Sox bullpen looks much better with only a couple innings to cover, sweeping the Red Sox in a doubleheader at Fenway Park. (April 18)

Patriotic position players: After Lucas Giolito gets shelled for eight runs over an inning's work during his morning Patriots Day start in Boston, Yermín Mercedes pitches the eighth, while Danny Mendick knuckleballed his way through the ninth. (April 19)

Chronic catcher interference: Yasmani Grandal racks up enough catcher interference call for a couple years in one evening by getting in the way of two swings while catching Carlos Rodón in a victory over Cleveland. (April 20)

Not-so-great Dane: The Dane Dunning Revenge Game never comes to fruition, as the White Sox chase him in the third inning of his first start against his former team. (April 23)

Pint-sized power: The 5-foot-7-inch Nick Madrigal delivers a walk-off single against Texas by powering a drive over the head of 6-foot-5-inch Joey Gallo. (April 24)

The La Russa leash: Tony La Russa has to apologize for the second time in a month for leaving in a pitcher who doesn't have it. This one is Lucas Giolito, who told reporters he didn't have anything left in the tank as he struggled in an unnecessary seventh inning. (April 27)

Probable cause? A day after sounding sanguine about the lack of 100-mph fastballs, Garrett Crochet goes on the injured list with a back issue that has hampered him since the spring. (April 29)

All aboard: The only starter without an acceptable outing sneaks one in before the end of April, as Dylan Cease dominates Detroit with a dazzling array of knuckle curves over seven shutout innings for the second doubleheader sweep of the month. (April 29)