Chicago White Sox 2018 season review
2018 White Sox: What went wrong?
One of the brightest spots for the 2017 White Sox was one of the biggest negatives for the 2018 squad. Avisail Garcia interrupted a career of replacement-level mediocrity with an impressive season in 2017 in which he hit .330/.380/.506 and was worth 4.2 WAR. It was the only good season he’s had in the major leagues and it’s so far out of line with the rest of his career that you can’t expect him to ever repeat it.
One of the biggest differences between Garcia in 2017 and every other full season he’s played was his .392 Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) that year. The year before, his BABIP was .309. This year, his BABIP was .271. If his hit total was reduced enough in 2017 to drop his BABIP from .392 to .271, his final batting line would look very similar to this year’s mark. Much of that 2017 season was BABIP-fueled.
Another big negative among position players was Nicky Delmonico. The 25-year-old outfielder went from hitting .262/.373/.482 and being worth 1.1 WAR in 43 games in 2017 to hitting .215/.296/.373 and being worth -0.3 WAR in 88 games this year. His walk rate went down, his strikeout rate went up, and he was worse at base running and defense. Being worse at everything is a recipe for disaster.
Then there’s young starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, who had a superficially-impressive 2.38 ERA in seven starts in 2017. This year, except for one month, Giolito was a disaster. His one good month was August, when he started six games and had a 3.86 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. The rest of the season, he had a 6.75 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. He led the league in walks allowed and earned runs allowed.
Other negatives from the pitching staff included Hector Santiago and James Shields, who is now on a four-year run of bad seasons. Carlos Rondon had a 4.95 FIP and a strikeout rate that was 8 percent worse than last year. Carson Fulmer only pitched 32.3 innings, but he packed a lot of bad pitching into those 32.3 innings (eight home runs allowed, an 8.07 ERA, 7.27 FIP, and 14.6 percent walk rate).
On the injury front, one of the White Sox top prospects, Michael Kopech, had Tommy John surgery and is not expected to pitch in 2019. Kopech came to the White Sox with Yoan Moncada in the Chris Sale trade with the Red Sox. He started four games for the White Sox this season and struck out 15 batters in 14.3 innings while averaging over 95 mph on his fastball. Losing him to Tommy John surgery was a big setback to the immediate future of the franchise.
Another injury during the 2018 season was a gut punch to the team. Pitcher Danny Farquhar nearly died from a brain aneurysm in the dugout after pitching in a game on April 20. Six months after the incident, Farquhar threw out the first pitch at a White Sox game. He’s expected to make a full recovery.