The White Sox went the entire first month of the season -- and Pedro Grifol's managerial career -- without consecutive wins, or even a series victory, which doesn't necessarily require consecutive wins.
Three of their most important players spent time on the injured list, another one was benched, and Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn had to answer questions about their job security after a seven-minute tirade by a sports radio caller went viral.
Thank God for the pitch clock. The average White Sox game took two hours and 43 minutes in April, down from 3 hours and 8 minutes in 2022. Given that the games felt interminable even with a timer, you'd probably be looking at something like 3 hours and 20 minutes without it, but even using last year's standard, the savings are still immense. Multiple 25 minutes over 29 games, and you ended up clawing back 12 hours of your life. So there's that.
TEAM PERFORMANCE
- Record: 8-21
- Standings: Fourth, 9 GB
- Longest winning streak: One, eight times
- Longest losing streak: 10, April 19-29
- Largest margin of victory: 10, April 6
- Largest margin of defeat: 6, April 8
HITTING LEADERS
- Batting average: Andrew Benintendi, .281
- On-base percentage: Andrew Vaughn, .358
- Slugging percentage: Jake Burger, .661
- wRC+: Burger, 166
- Home runs: Burger, 7
- RBI: Vaughn, 20
- Walks: Vaughn, 13
- Strikeouts: Luis Robert Jr., 33
- Stolen bases: Tim Anderson, 5
- fWAR: Burger, 0.8
PITCHING LEADERS
- Wins: 2, Dylan Cease and Mike Clevinger
- Losses: 4, Lance Lynn
- ERA: Cease and Lucas Giolito, 4.15
- Innings: 34⅔, Giolito
- Strikeouts: 42, Lynn
- Appearances: 14, Jimmy Lambert and Reynaldo López
- Relief innings: 14⅓, Gregory Santos
- fWAR: 0.7, Giolito
COMING AND GOING
- White Sox debuts: Mike Clevinger, Gregory Santos, Keynan Middleton, Jesse Scholtens, Oscar Colás, Andrew Benintendi, Hanser Alberto,
- White Sox departures: José Ruiz
- Going up: Burger, Scholtens, Middleton, Lenyn Sosa, Tanner Banks, Adam Haseley, Nicholas Padilla
- Going down: Scholtens, Banks, Padilla
#SOXMORGUE
- Joe Kelly: Right groin strain
- Tim Anderson: Left knee sprain
- Eloy Jiménez: Left hamstring strain
- Hanser Alberto: Right quad strain
- Yoán Moncada: Lower back soreness
AWARDS
Most Valuable Player: Jake Burger
As Berto from the West Side stated, the White Sox's best hitter was Jake Bur-ger, and Burger did what he could to earn it. He hit .242/.333/.661, with 12 of his 15 hits going for extra bases (seven doubles, five homers). He also made improvements on his biggest weaknesses, closing the strikeout-to-walk gap a little bit (3-to-1, not 5-to-1) and showing much surer hands in the field. He won't be mistaken for Moncada with his first step, and he has enough empty at-bats to warrant some fear of the bottom falling out, but he's done what he could to supplement a White Sox offense in dire need of the skills he provided.
Least Valuable Player: Oscar Colás
This one's a little tricky, because a handful of players produced far less. Fill-ins like Lenyn Sosa didn't quite rise to the level of "regular," and Elvis Andrus gave the White Sox something once he shifted to shortstop when Tim Anderson got hurt. Among everyday players, Colás fell off after an encouraging start to finish his first month at .211/.265/.276, with the team's highest ground-ball rates and chase rates, and his defense left something to be desired as well. He had plenty of company, and he had some company in not continuing onward with the White Sox to start May.
Most Valuable Pitcher: Lucas Giolito
No one White Sox pitcher impressed in April, but Giolito offered the most reason for optimism. Only one of his six starts qualified as a dud, and he completed at least six innings in each of his final four outings. He might not return to receiving Cy Young support, but he's also not reminding anybody of the worst pitcher in baseball, either.
Least Valuable Pitcher: Michael Kopech
Lance Lynn was worse by some measures, whether you're judging by ERA (7.16 to Kopech's 7.01) or his performance relative to expectations. But Lynn had a couple of 10-strikeout outings, including six innings of no-hit ball before the 2023 White Sox took over, so you can get the idea of how he might recover.
I went with Kopech because he provided fewer innings (25⅔) and scarier peripherals (eight homers, 16 walks, 27 strikeouts over 25⅔ innings). They combined for an 0-7 record between them, so take your pick, I don't care.
Fire Man: Gregory Santos?
The question mark isn't about the numbers, because Santos had the cleanest stat line among White Sox relievers, especially those who made the Opening Day roster. He posted a 1.76 ERA with 16 strikeouts against seven free baserunners while contributing the most innings out of the bullpen. He just didn't face many important situations, averaging the team's second-lowest leverage index to Hanser Alberto. Among guys who actually appeared in tight spots, Keynan Middleton fared the best, so he'd be the only other competitor. After a fine, cautious first impression, Santos has earned the right to see a smaller margin for error.
Gas Can: Jake Diekman
Amid so much competition, Diekman stands out, whether for the .500 OBP from the lefties he was supposed to retire, or the 13 walks over 11⅓ innings. Those ugly numbers contributed to his 7.94 ERA in April and his DFA at the start of May, but now that just puts other underachievers under the microscope.
Bench Player: Gavin Sheets
Sheets was a reliable source for professional at-bats, hitting .280/.351/.400 with a couple homers and six walks against eight strikeouts while appearing in both outfield corners and first base. If only he played any of those positions passably, but we'll get to that in a bit.
Stench Player: Romy González
I simply cannot stress enough the fact that the White Sox did not have to hype González the way they did. He could've started the year in Charlotte or as the 26th man in Chicago with the mildest of optimism, and if he hit .139/.139/.194 with 14 strikeouts in 36 plate appearances and key mistakes at three positions, nobody would've thought much of it. Instead, we're left to wonder exactly what the White Sox saw, because he showed none of it.
Gold Glove: Luis Robert Jr.
All the metrics love Robert, and it's no wonder why. He's back to upper-echelon sprint speed (at least for most of the month), and it's resulting in outstanding outfield coverage. He's even learned how to handle the warning track, stealing multiple homers as a result. Now he just needs to call for the ball, because his neighbors are starting to get annoyed.
Hands of Stone: Romy González
Initially I gave the nod to Sheets for what could stand as the season's clumsiest move, along with some mistakes at first base. But González fumbled balls in right, at second base, and capped off his month with a straight-up drop in left field that exhausted all arguments for his utility.
Timeline
Firsts: Playing José Abreu's team, Andrew Vaughn makes his mark as the White Sox's new first baseman with the go-ahead double in the eighth inning that gave Pedro Grifol his first win. (March 30)
Catch of the year of the day: A day after making a leaping catch at the wall in right center, Luis Robert Jr. makes a sliding catch on the left-center warning track and inspires a nifty leaping effort from Andrew Benintendi.
Please forget to tip: Michael Kopech gives up five homers, including four in one inning, to spoil the home opener. After some prying, it appears that Giants hitters could see Kopech's glove flaring out when he gripped his curveball. (April 3)
Leather letdown: Vaughn is tagged with one of the season's more unfortunate error when a Joc Pederson line drive bores a hole in the first baseman mitt. (April 5)
Ring that bell: Liam Hendriks provides a bright spot during a bleak opening series when he announces that he completed his final round of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (April 5)
The thrill is gone: Hanser Alberto pitches for the second time in three games at Guaranteed Rate Field. He gave up four runs in the ninth, which allowed the Giants to use a position player of their own to close it out. (April 6)
Benches clear: Budding Pittsburgh star Oneil Cruz slides late into Seby Zavala at home plate, but Cruz gets the worse of it, fracturing his anke. Zavala, who didn't appreciate the impact into his lower leg, is unsympathetic with his immediate reaction, and everybody empties out onto the field. Joe Kelly strains his groin running in from the bullpen. (April 9)
Speaking of leg injuries: Tim Anderson suffers a close call when an awkward flip from Hanser Alberto on a botched rundown puts him in a vulnerable position, and Matt Wallner clips his leg sliding into third. Anderson misses the next three weeks with a knee sprain. (April 10)
Jesse's L: Jesse Scholtens suffered his first career loss in the majors on one pitch in extra innings, and that pitch was bunted. Alberto's attempt to get the out at first sails on him and doinks off Michael A. Taylor's helmet for the game-winning run. (April 11)
A recipe for failure succeeds: The White Sox beat the Orioles 7-6 in 10 innings despite walking 10 batters and hitting another one in the head. (April 15)
Harrison's revenge: Josh Harrison matches his RBI total from his first 38 games as a White Sox in his first game against them, driving in four during Philadelphia's 7-4 victory in the series opener. (April 18)
Smashburger: Jake Burger hits the hardest White Sox home run of the Statcast era, topping 118 mph out to left field for a 3-0 lead that Lucas Giolito and Co. actually held. (April 18)
A gut punch: In a position to hand the Rays their first home loss of the season, the White Sox instead are walked off as Reynaldo López failed to retire any of the three batters he faced. (April 21)
Wind power: The White Sox swung and missed at 32 of Shane McClanahan's 88 pitches, including 14 of 16 swings at his changeup. (April 22)
Hang time: In Luis Robert Jr.'s most impressive catch, he somehow finds a way to hang in the air for an extra fraction of a second to steal a homer from Matt Chapman. The White Sox still lost.
LOL: Kenny Williams delivers a gem in a rare interview, saying in response to the question about job security in the front office that "Accountability around here is not a problem." (April 25)
It's not funny anymore: While it was once bobblehead fodder, Eloy Jiménez no longer can condone Luis Robert Jr. cutting him off unnecsessarily, especially when he doesn't tell Jiménez to give way when the ball is clearly in the right fielder's jurisdiction. (April 25)
Berto, front and center: The White Sox's futility probably would've gained national attention at some point, but the rubbernecking is accelerated when Berto from the West Side's eloquent, seven-minute rant about everything the White Sox have done wrong goes viral. (April 26)
Mob bench: MLB dugouts now have costume departments for home-run celebration, and Jake Burger unveils the White Sox version when he dons a custom black trenchcoat and hat. (April 27)
Dusted by Hudson: Pedro Grifol is thrown out by Marvin Hudson twice over the course of three innings, first protesting a call in the eighth inning, then arguing about warning issued over an HBP in the first inning the next day. (April 28)
The season's nadir, hopefully: The White Sox lose to the Rays 12-3 in a game they led 3-0 after six innings of no-hit ball from Lance Lynn. A 10-run seventh makes the difference, and brings the hustle-/injury-related benching of Luis Robert Jr. to the forefront of everything. (April 29)
Ending on a high note: An April marred by incompetent baseball and unsatisfactory efforts ends on the least-fitting note, as the White Sox score seven runs in the ninth inning to avoid getting swept by the Rays in the season series. Andrew Vaughn puts the stamp on the afternoon with a three-run walk-off homer. (April 30)
