Month in a Box: The White Sox in August 2024

By winning only three games in July, the White Sox set themselves up to test the mathematical odds of getting worse.

Theoretically, it shouldn’t be possible for any MLB team to win fewer than three games in a full month, even if they’re closer to Triple-A in talent. It definitely shouldn’t happen two months in a row. However, as they closed out a 3-22 July, the White Sox had traded their best unrestricted starter, their home run leader, their steadiest outfielder and their two most appealing relievers, so in terms of the roster on hand, they were definitely taking a run at even greater infamy.

When the dust settled at the end of August, baseball’s randomness tilted in their favor. Barely.

The White Sox went 4-22. They had one more game, and by golly did they take advantage of it. Is it still a staggering amount of losing? Yes. Have they done worse? Also yes. By the smallest margins, but half a game is better than none. 

They were far more eventful off the field, particularly on the managerial front, as they put Pedro Grifol out of his franchise-worst misery. He can take some solace that the White Sox have further slid toward historic levels of ineptitude after firing him and his lieutenants, but nobody is legally permitted to take pride in the team-wide fortunes of the 2024 White Sox without receiving documented, notarized permission first.

WHITE SOX TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Record: 4-22
• Standings: Fifth, 46½ GB
• Longest winning streak: 1, four times, obviously
• Longest losing streak: 21, July 10-Aug. 5
• Largest margin of victory: 10, Aug. 12
• Largest margin of defeat: 9, Aug. 24

HITTING LEADERS

• Batting average: .321, Gavin Sheets
• On-base percentage: .363, Andrew Benintendi
• Slugging percentage: .589, Benintendi
• wRC+: 164, Benintendi
• Home runs: 7, Benintendi
• RBI: 17, Benintendi
• Walks: 12, Benintendi
• Strikeouts: 27, Korey Lee
• Stolen bases: 6, Luis Robert Jr.
• fWAR: 0.8, Benintendi

PITCHING LEADERS

• Wins: 1, Jonathan Cannon, Touki Toussaint, Fraser Ellard, Justin Anderson
• Losses: 4, Cannon
• ERA: 3.64, Davis Martin
• Innings: 29⅔ , Martin
• Strikeouts: 29, Martin
• Appearances: 13, Anderson and Chad Kuhl
• Relief innings: 18⅓, Toussaint
• fWAR: 0.4, Martin

COMING AND GOING

• White Sox debuts: Ky Bush, Gus Varland, Enyel De Los Santos, Jacob Amaya
• White Sox departures: Nick Senzel, John Brebbia
• Going up:  Bush, Varland, Prelander Berroa, Matt Foster, Bryan Ramos, Sammy Peralta, Nick Nastrini
• Going down: Peralta, Berroa, Foster, Bush, Ramos

#SOXMORGUE

• Drew Thorpe: Right flexor strain, bone spur
• Dominic Leone: Right UCL strain
• Steven Wilson: Lower back strain

White Sox Honors

Most Valuable Player: Andrew Benintendi

While the White Sox were an unfathomable 3-22 in July, it made sense when you looked at the hitting performances and saw that Luis Robert Jr.'s merely average month was unmatched by any of his teammates. Here, Andrew Benintendi finally got to the bottom of his compromised mechanical issues to hit .278/.363/.589 for his first legitimately exciting stretch of his five-year contract, and Gavin Sheets gave him a BABIP-fueled running mate with a 118 wRC+. There should have been more than a one-game improvement, right?

Least Valuable Player: Lenyn Sosa

If you only judged Lenyn Sosa by his offense, he'd be the easy choice for this label. He hit .174/.193/.196 with just one extra-base hit over 89 plate appearances. Sosa wishes he could only be judged by his offense.

Most Valuable Pitcher: Davis Martin

With Garrett Crochet shelled in one start and rained out after one batter in another, it created an opening in the spotlight, and Davis Martin stepped in. His first start of the season was a disaster, but he finished the month with a 2.77 ERA over his final five starts. The White Sox won zero of those games, but that's besides the point.

Least Valuable Pitcher: Chris Flexen

Flexen could qualify for the ERA title, which reflects of a rosterable amount of talent in the way that somebody like Ky Bush does not, and Flexen's August fit neatly into the rest of his season by being half-useful. Still, the White Sox have lost the last 21 games he's pitched in, which is level of success that you or I could have if we were given the league minimum to suit up.

Fire Man: Justin Anderson

The trades of Michael Kopech and Tanner Banks created a vacuum for high-leverage relief work, and Justin Anderson stepped into that role. He appeared in just about every situation where the White Sox had a non-disastrous-or-better margin worth preserving, and he fared about as well as could reasonably expected for a guy who walked seven batters and hit another over 13⅓ innings. It's weird that the pitcher with the highest average leverage index did not save a game -- or even appear in a save situation -- but the White Sox are always breaking new ground.

Gas Can: Steven Wilson

It continued to be a cursed year for Wilson, who allowed eight runs over 4⅓ innings spanning five outings before going on the IL with a back injury again. He has a 5.71 ERA, and it's somehow lower than his FIP (6.74).

Bench Player: None

Were any White Sox player hitting well enough in a part-time role, they'd be playing in a full-time role. The top eight OPSes in August, regardless of sample size, belong to front-line players, and that even includes Luis Robert Jr.'s disappointing .218/.233/.297 line bringing up the rear.

Stench Player: Nick Senzel

Given the previous paragraph, you could just as easily say "everybody" for this section and mean it. But Senzel went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts and went nearly two weeks without playing before the White Sox finally designated him for assignment, and it takes a certain special mix to not find any playing time on this team.

Gold Glove: Dominic Fletcher

Fletcher's defense in right field joins Benintendi's bat as the two most legitimately enjoyable aspects of the month. He put together a highlight reel of web gems that put him toward the top of right-field leaderboards -- 8 Defensive Runs Saved, 3 Outs Above Average -- despite being late to everyday-player duties.

Hands of Stone: Lenyn SOsa

As bad as his August was at the plate, Sosa probably had a worse month in the field. His fielding log shows one error, but the sosa-misplay tag on game recaps shows many, many, many mistakes, even though it's an incomplete account. Missing catchable throws, processing developing situations too slowly, colliding with teammates or wandering into their paths, getting hit in the face between innings -- he discovered just about every mistake that could be made that doesn't affect fielding percentage. A real pioneer in the field.

Timeline

Not keeping up appearances: Steven Wilson storms off the mound after a thoroughly unsuccessful appearance, and Pedro Grifol does a double-take when the attempt to take the ball meets more resistance than expected. (Aug. 2)

Not like they Drew it up: Drew Thorpe is placed in the injured list with a right flexor strain, which at least helps explain why he'd spent most of the season searching for his best fastball and cutter. (Aug. 3)

Kissing up against the dying of the light: As rumors about his likely dismissal swirl during a losing streak reaching 19 games, Pedro Grifol slathers praise upon Jerry Reinsdorf, calling him "an absolute winner" and saying "I know how much he loves those fans." (Aug. 4)

An even 20: The White Sox scored seven runs for the first time in more than a month, but they gave up 13 to the Twins, which is how they lost their 20th consecutive game. (Aug. 4)

Blackjack: The White Sox tie the American League record by losing their 21st consecutive game, falling 5-1 to Oakland despite limiting the A's to four hits. (Aug. 5)

Victory at last: The White Sox avoid claiming sole possession of the American League's longest losing streak by turning the tables on the A's in a surprisingly straightforward 5-1 victory. (Aug. 6)

PERTINENT: Ranking the losses from the White Sox's 21-game losing streak

But still series winless: The White Sox aren't able to string together consecutive wins in Oakland, instead dropping the rubber match 5-3. It would ordinary be a pretty humdrum affair, but ... (Aug. 7)

Gri-fall guy: ... it's the last game of Pedro Grifol's managerial career, as the White Sox fire him on an off day. Since Charlie Montoyo, Mike Tosar and Eddie Rodríguez were also fired, Grady Sizemore ends up being named his interim replacement. (Aug. 8)

PERTINENT: Pedro Grifol didn't rise to any challenge, and White Sox provided tons

More of the same, but different: The White Sox open the Sizemore Era by losing their third game to the Cubs by a score of 7-6 in three chances, but considering they fell behind 7-0 through three innings, there was reason to feel better about it. (Aug. 9)

More of the same, but the same: Brooks Baldwin, who is supposed to be the White Sox's rookie hope for heady play, assumes there's no chance of Cody Bellinger being sent home on a relay from the left-field corner because Baldwin gets the ball right after Bellinger steps on third. Bellinger scores without a throw. (Aug. 10)

Monday funday: The White Sox improve to 1-14 on Mondays in 2024 with a shocking 12-2 romp over the Yankees of all teams, setting season highs in runs, hits and margin of victory. (Aug. 12)

Showcase for the Sox: Juan Soto gives the White Sox a glimpse of what could be with three homers that provide the margin for a Yankees 4-1 victory, because Jerry Reinsdorf hasn't yet ruled out signing him. (Aug. 13)

Inflation-proof: The White Sox announce the reduction of 2025 season-ticket prices by an average of 10 percent, which is the first sign they're not adhering to Oakland's Fan Alienation Playbook page by page. (Aug. 14)

An exciting new concept called corner outfield defense: Dominic Fletcher begins his insurgent campaign for Gold Glove consideration in right field with three brilliant plays in one night against the Yankees. (Aug. 14)

Eliminated with extreme prejudice: The White Sox lose an 18th consecutive Chris Flexen start to eliminate them from postseason play with 38 games to go. (Aug. 17)

Toilet talk: New-co-bench coach Doug Sisson takes a shot at one of Pedro Grifol's favorite sayings after a characteristically mistake-prone loss. (Aug. 18)

Unsolved mysteries: One of the two women who was struck by a bullet in the outfield bleachers at Guaranteed Rate Field a year prior files a lawsuit against the White Sox. (Aug. 23)

And all they got was this lousy t-shirt: The White Sox open a 10-game homestand by practicing in matching t-shirts bearing the image of their new manager. Don't ask how they fared over those 10 games, at least not until September's Month in a Box. (Aug. 23)

100 losses: The White Sox reach triple digits in losses before any other team in baseball reaches 80 wins with a 9-4 loss to the Tigers. (Aug. 25)

70 games below .500: The White Sox reach another milestone with a 6-3 loss that seals a four-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers. (Aug 26)

Extreme pitch count restrictions: Garrett Crochet's start against the Rangers is limited to four pitches -- not innings, pitches -- because the White Sox didn't anticipate thunderstorms that wash out the opener of a series against Texas. (Aug. 27)

It's not their year: The White Sox's best hope for one more win in August is denied when Travis Jankowski robs Andrew Vaughn of what would've been a walk-off three-run homer with perhaps the defensive play of the year. (Aug. 28)

It's not his, either: Jankowski's feat overshadows a disastrous game for Lenyn Sosa, who pulled off his version of a hat trick: a costly error at second base, a costly interference call on a pop-up that ended up being misplayed, and whatever this was. (Aug. 28)

watching the white sox. pic.twitter.com/MQseiHmOfE

— Jim Margalus (@SoxMachine) August 29, 2024

Losing efficiently: Despite Nick Nastrini's best efforts, the White Sox are swept by the Rangers, with all three losses occuring within a 24-hour window. (Aug. 29)

Six months of record losing in a five-month package: The White Sox close out August with a ninth consecutive loss that also ties the franchise record for the most defeats in a season. The 1970 White Sox went 56-106, and the 2024 White Sox would have to have been perfect in September to avoid claiming sole ownership. (Aug. 31)