KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It seemed like he was mostly joking, but there is obviously a nugget of truth when White Sox hitting coach Marcus Thames responded to my observation of the White Sox chase rate being down from last season with an exaggerated gruff reply.
"How many games have we won?"
For what the White Sox are trying to accomplish this year, a structural improvement in plate discipline seems more important than an early April series in Kansas City. But the White Sox are 1-6, their offense is off to a historically moribund start, and franchise player Luis Robert Jr. hobbled off the field Friday night at Kauffman Stadium with a right hip flexor injury of an unknown severity. It's hard to admire the beauty of the ocean when you're more immediately concerned with drowning.
"It’s obviously devastating," said second baseman Nicky Lopez. "You never want to see someone go down, on whatever side of the ball. Whatever team. You don’t want to see injuries. And for one of the best players in baseball -- you see that, it gets you down. That guy is so exciting to watch. You just hate to see it."
"It’s terrible. There’s nothing you can do about that," said starting pitcher Erick Fedde.
Robert is scheduled for a battery of examinations Saturday morning, which manager Pedro Grifol said would include an X-ray. Grifol was adamant that he wouldn't comment on the severity of the injury until after Robert is evaluated, but the White Sox clearly have to prepare to make a roster move and weather an absence. A source told Sox Machine that infielder Lenyn Sosa has once more been tabbed to fly out from Triple-A to join the team in Kansas City, though after last weekend's Eloy Jiménez injury, that news does not carry the guarantee of an immediate IL placement it once did.
"There's best-case news, and then obviously the other side of that too," Grifol said.
The other side of that is unfortunately well known. Robert suffered a complete tear of his right hip flexor running down the first base line in 2021. He remarkably returned to play in three months time, and returned to play a sublime level of baseball that he only matched in last year's All-Star campaign. But that is of little solace.
Another major injury to Robert's right hip is not particularly palatable to long-terms plans of him as an up-the-middle centerpiece of the next good White Sox team. And any absence -- let alone one of months in length -- feels unpalatable to the immediate goals of this White Sox team keeping their heads above water. The Sox leadership group does not want a season that sinks to the listless depths of 2017 and 2018, and yet were on track for one before things took a turn for the worse Friday night in Kansas City
When we have discussed worst-case scenarios for this Sox team on this website, a specific concern was how much any loss of Jiménez and Robert would hamstring their already threadbare offense. Seven games in, the Sox have been the worst offense in baseball at putting runners in scoring position, and the worst at doing things with them when they finally arrive (4-for-34). Now, they look like they will spend their immediate future without their Opening Day No. 3 and No. 4 hitters.
"We just have to go out there and compete and just see what happens," Grifol said. "The worst thing we can do -- and this is not going to happen -- is feel sorry for ourselves. We are not going to do that. So, that I promise you. That’s not going to happen. We are going to go out there and compete our asses off and play baseball the right way and see what happens."
Friday night's other injury
Before Robert's more costly injury, John Brebbia departed Friday night's game with a recurrence of a right calf issue in the sixth inning. He aggravated his leg fielding a ball in front of the mound, and left the game after a couple of test tosses.
Compared to Robert, the process for Brebbia's timetable sounds less scientific, but the tone is less dire.
"His news is a little, it’s not bad," Grifol said. "We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. We don’t anticipate it being long but we’ll see. I can’t say that until he goes to bed tonight and wakes up tomorrow morning."
Andrew Vaughn's struggles
Moments after Robert left the game with trainers, Andrew Vaughn -- who is now tasked with carrying even more of the offensive load -- rapped into his third double play of the year to end a 2-1 loss. On balance, Vaughn is 5-for-25 on the season without an extra-base hit.
"He might be pressing a little bit," Grifol said. "The whole offense is not clicking right now. But you know it’s one of those things and we talked about it today. Marcus talked to them today about it, it’s the start of the season.
"I’m not going to sit here and tell you ‘It’s early. It’s early.’ I’m not going to do that because I don’t even believe in that shit. I believe that every game, there is some urgency to win every single game. But I do know this: These guys have track records, and at the end of the season, their stats are going to be where their stats are going to be. If they continue to improve, their stats will be better than they were last year."
Vaughn has worked to try to reduce the ground-ball tendencies in his game. After working to install a higher hand placement in Eloy Jiménez's setup with the goal of cleaning up his swing path, I asked Thames if a similar move would be in line for Vaughn. Thames disagreed, feeling it's more a case of calibrating the right size and stride for Vaughn's pronounced leg kick to keep him on time.
Also Andrew Benintendi's struggles
In a similar way, Andrew Benintendi added four groundouts Friday -- three bounced to Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino -- to drop himself to 3-for-28 with a walk to start the season while operating out of the leadoff spot.
After focusing on pulling the ball in the air during his offseason work before 2023, Benintendi is hoping a healthy wrist and added strength is going to deliver his needed pull power. But he's going back to thinking about the all-fields approach that has typified his games for years, after a 2023 where he felt like he "never really got anything going, never got into a groove."
"I'm just trying to get on base, score as many runs as possible," Benintendi said of his approach out of the leadoff spot. "I'm not doing that right now, but hopefully it will turn around."
Benintendi's only hit since the opening series against the Tigers is a bunt single to the left side. It's both the sort of opportunistic move against an infield playing back that any hitter would like to take occasionally when it's offered, and a symptom of how he's feeling offensively.
"I hadn't been really hitting the ball at all, striking out and think whenever you can lay down a bunt and get on base that way, it's always a plus. And it might open up the left side for a hit down the road."
