Doubling the 2023 White Sox’s numbers at the halfway point

11:31 AM CDT on June 28, 2023

White Sox pitcher Aaron Bummer — (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports)

The mathematical first half ended in a pretty fitting fashion for the 2023 White Sox. They lost to the Angels on Tuesday night, but it was a close one. They walked way too many guys, and Pedro Grifol emptied out his bench way too early, requiring defensive replacements to hit for themselves in clutch situations in the final inning.

Updating the chart from last year, the White Sox have still played at a 90-win pace in just two of 20 half-seasons since Rick Hahn took over as GM. The update is that the White Sox have now played at a 90-loss pace in eight of 20 half-seasons since Rick Hahn took over as GM. The 90-win halves are in bold, the 90-loss ones in italics.

2013: 33-48, 30-51
2014: 37-44, 36-45
2015: 37-44, 39-42
2016: 41-40, 37-44
2017: 36-45, 31-50
2018: 28-53, 34-47
2019: 39-42, 33-47
2020: 35-25
2021: 49-32, 44-37
2022: 39-42, 42-39
2023: 34-47

Going back to Tuesday night, the White Sox staged a rally down three in the ninth when Eloy Jiménez doubled and Andrew Vaughn singled him home. Keeping the inning alive was a task handed to a 29-year-old rookie, followed by guys with OBPs of .271, .183 and .276. Two were starters, and two were defensive subs who never should've been called upon. It's not good that you can't tell them apart from their performances.

And it almost worked. In the sense that the 2023 White Sox almost work. They almost always almost work, which is the kindest, sweetest, most grandmotherly way to say something is broken.

White Sox Position Players

Name	G	PA	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB/CS	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	bWAR
Yasmani Grandal	130	464	32	22	0	12	38	0/0	32	92	.263	.319	.399	96	0.0
Andrew Vaughn	158	658	72	38	2	24	92	0/0	54	122	.241	.322	.436	106	1.0
Elvis Andrus	120	436	34	12	0	4	34	12/6	34	78	.200	.276	.262	50	-1.6
Tim Anderson	112	474	42	18	0	0	22	16/2	24	94	.232	.270	.272	50	-2.4
Yoán Moncada	76	294	34	16	2	6	26	2/0	14	78	.232	.279	.370	77	0.0
Andrew Benintendi	152	620	70	40	2	2	38	18/2	48	92	.281	.343	.370	97	1.6
Luis Robert Jr.	156	646	104	40	0	44	86	8/2	32	192	.269	.324	.561	137	7.2
Gavin Sheets	122	370	34	8	0	16	48	0/0	38	68	.232	.308	.402	94	0.0
Eloy Jiménez	96	408	44	22	0	18	60	0/0	26	102	.258	.304	.458	106	0.4
Seby Zavala	94	230	18	2	0	8	22	2/0	10	92	.148	.183	.269	22	-1.0
Jake Burger	124	442	56	20	2	34	74	2/2	22	150	.221	.271	.529	113	1.4
Romy González	88	194	22	8	4	6	28	14/0	4	72	.194	.208	.376	56	-0.8
Clint Frazier	58	140	16	2	2	0	4	8/2	20	42	.183	.300	.233	50	-0.4
Oscar Colás	50	168	16	4	0	2	14	4/2	10	40	.211	.265	.276	50	-1.8
Lenyn Sosa	44	140	8	6	0	2	6	0/0	2	32	.132	.145	.221	-1	-1.4
Totals		6004	648	272	14	184	634	94/20	386	1400	.234	.291	.389

Takeaways

No. 1: The White Sox are on pace for -4 WAR from their keystone combination. FanGraphs says they're getting the league's worst production at second base, and the second-worst production at shortstop. They're also getting the league's worst production from right field because White Sox problems don't solve themselves.

No. 2: Speaking of which, at this pace, the White Sox's three lowest walk totals over 162-game seasons will have all come in the last four 162-game seasons:

2019: 378
2023: 386 (projected)
2022: 388
1968: 397
1980: 399

No. 3: Andrew Benintendi is showing off the appeal of his high floor, as he's found a way to make himself useful despite the disappointing start. He's also showing off the problems with his low ceiling. He won't produce enough to cover for shortcomings elsewhere, which is why he was a curious way to spend a franchise-record amount of money.

No. 4: Andrew Vaughn's OPS+ is 106. Lyle Overbay's career OPS+ is 106.

No. 5: Luis Robert Jr. is on pace for the first 7 WAR season by a White Sox position player since Albert Belle in 1998. Belle was only worth 7.1 WAR despite setting franchise records for homers, doubles and BIs because 1) the entire run-scoring environment was wack, and 2) his defense in left field would fit somewhere in the Melky Cabrera-to-Andrew Vaughn spectrum.

White Sox Pitchers

Name	W-L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R/ER	HR	BB	K	ERA+	bWAR
Lucas Giolito	10-10	3.41	32	32	0	184.2	164	78/70	28	58	198	128	4.6
Dylan Cease	6-6	4.04	34	34	0	182.2	158	92/82	22	78	220	108	3.0
Lance Lynn	8-16	6.40	32	32	0	180	200	138/128	38	68	218	68	-1.8
Michael Kopech	6-14	4.08	32	32	0	172	136	78/78	34	98	194	107	3.4
Mike Clevinger	6-8	3.88	24	24	0	125.1	118	54/54	18	52	106	113	3.2
Gregory Santos	4-0	2.60	70	0	0	80	78	26/24	2	18	78	162	2.2
Reynaldo López	4-10	5.29	72	0	8	68	56	42/40	14	34	82	83	-0.2
Kendall Graveman	6-6	2.70	68	0	12	66.2	38	24/20	8	32	62	163	1.8
Keynan Middleton	2-0	2.33	58	0	4	54	40	14/14	6	20	72	189	1.8
Joe Kelly	2-6	3.96	52	0	2	50	42	28/22	4	14	64	111	0.0
Aaron Bummer	4-2	6.58	66	0	0	52	48	38/38	0	32	64	67	-0.6
Tanner Banks	0-4	4.50	16	4	0	36	34	18/18	6	8	34	98	0.6
Jesse Scholtens	2-4	2.31	18	2	2	46.2	34	14/12	2	18	26	191	1.8
Garrett Crochet	0-2	3.60	20	0	0	20	20	10/8	2	22	18	125	0.2
Totals	68-94	4.43			30	1433.1	1296	774/706	216	638	1552

Takeaways

No. 1: If Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger didn't end their first halves with great uncertainty about what the next three months have in store, the rotation would be in acceptable shape, with four 3 WAR pitchers, and the other one absorbing innings if nothing else.

No. 2: If somebody told you before the season that Gregory Santos, Keynan Middleton and Jesse Scholtens would all round to 2 WAR out of the bullpen, you'd probably think the White Sox would be in excellent shape. I'd probably say, "This is why the Sox should've directed the money they invested in the bullpen toward the offense," because Sox Machine is built different.

No. 3: Aaron Bummer is why I use bWAR instead of fWAR for pitchers with this exercise. FanGraphs says he's on pace for a 1.4 WAR season, but nobody watching Aaron Bummer during the first half would say, "Keep up the good work, Aaron Bummer!" As Monday night showed, he falters in ways that are as esoteric as they are reliable.

No. 4: Nice rebound for Lucas Giolito. I'm kinda rooting for him to go 6-4 in the second half so he finishes with his third consecutive season of 11-9. It's not Khris Davis batting .247 four seasons in a row, but it's something.

No. 5: It's been 20 years since 12 saves would be enough to lead the White Sox, which was the case in 2002 and 2003. You may remember that as the year that Jerry Manuel gave up on Keith Foulke prematurely, and the general disgruntlement led them to trade Foulke to Oakland for Billy Koch. 2002 was Hahn's first year with the White Sox.