The White Sox head into the All-Star break at 45-43, 3.5 games back of the division-leading Tigers, and you know what? For where this team was earlier in the year, that's really not bad. Until this weekend's predictable series at the Metrodome, the White Sox had not lost a series since June 8-11 against Detroit.
As the weather got warmer, so did the Sox offense. The Sox have been scoring runs with a lot more consistency than they did in April and May, and with some pretty solid pitching, they've managed to climb back into the race after being as far as 6.5 games out of first in mid-June.
So now, let's take a look at some individual player grades. Note: these are based off a combination of my own expectations and each player's WAR.
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Halfway through the year, Pierzynski's numbers look like they may challenge 2006 for the best he's had in a White Sox uniform. His .305/.333/.470 haven't been aided by an overly high BABIP, so he should be able to keep producing this way through the second half.
He hasn't had a season with an OPS+ above 100 while with the Sox, but at the All-Star break he currently has a 109 OPS+. He's seriously cut down on his strikeouts, sitting at just 26 at the break. Behind that drop in whiffs is a ridiculously high contact rate—90.2 percent, nearly 7 percent higher than his career average. Maybe that'll go down in the second half, or maybe Pierzynski has made a commitment to trying to just putting the ball in play.
Either way, Pierzynski has been very, very solid at the plate in the first half. It's safe to say he's gone beyond expectations given his OPS+ in past years, so he'll earn a good offensive grade.
Defensively, he's only throwing out 13 percent of baserunners—which is pretty horrible, but it's not all his fault. It's a combination of Pierzynski not having the best arm and pitchers like Gavin Floyd being very slow to the plate. His game-calling abilities are still good enough to make up for his other defensive deficiencies, though.
Offensive grade: A-
Defensive grade: C
Through 84 games, Konerko has done everything possible to prove that his 2008 numbers were an aberration. After posting the second-lowest OPS+ of his career in 2008, Konerko has rebounded with a 124 OPS+, eight points higher than his career average. While he's never going to be a 35-40 home run hitter again, if Konerko can hit 30 home runs with a nice OPS+ and avoid hitting into a ton of double plays (he's only hit into nine this year), he'll still be a very effective first baseman for this year and next year.
His BABIP of .321 is a little high for his career average, but even if that regresses toward the mean it shouldn't hurt his numbers too much in the second half. He's hitting the ball with a whole lot more authority than last year, when it seemed like every time he came to bat, he rolled over a pitch weakly to short or third.
Finally, he's been worth a full win more this year (2.1 WAR) than in all of last year (1.1 WAR). A lot of that has to do with his offensive production, but his defense has been excellent as well. His 5.0 UZR is easily the best among MLB first baseman, and surprisingly, he's rated very well in the range component of the UZR metric (3.3, second-best in that category only to Ryan Howard's 3.7). So, if UZR meant everything, Konerko would be well on his way to a gold glove this year.
Offensive grade: B+
Defensive grade: A
After hitting .340/.396/.404 in April, the league really caught up to Getz in May, a month in which Getz hit just .200/.263/.256. However, Getz made a few adjustments in late June and the results have been encouraging. Not including today's 2/4 day at the plate, Getz is hitting .394/.432/.545 since June 28. Granted, that's only in 33 at-bats, but at the least, Getz should go into the All-Star break with a lot of confidence that he hopefully can build on in the second half.
While Getz' first-half offensive grade won't be all that good, don't be surprised to come back after the season and see a higher grade. There's still a decent enough chance that .270/.330/.370 is within reach, and while that's nothing to write home about, it's not a bad building block for a rookie second baseman.
I'm far more concerned with Getz' defense than his offense, though. I never would have expected Getz to have a -3.7 UZR heading into the All-Star break, but that's exactly the case. I don't think anybody expected a through-the-roof UZR from Getz, but at the least, I thought he was going to be an average defensive second baseman. And while he's not Dan Uggla bad, it's still disappointing to see him in the bottom third of MLB second basemen in terms of defense. Combined with his offense, it's not all that surprising that he's barely rated as a replacement-level player by WAR (-0.1).
Offensive grade: D+
Defensive grade: D+
Is it some rule that Ramirez can only start hitting after mid-May? On May 21, Ramirez had a triple-slash of .213/.261/.276 with just one home run. To say he looked lost at the plate would be a bigger understatement than saying the Royals made a bad move in trading for Yuniesky Betancourt.
Since May 21, Ramirez has been a completely different hitter. He's at a very nice .319/.377/.503 with 10 home runs, and in that stretch, he's taken one fewer walk (17) than he did in all of 2008 (18).Ramirez is swinging at 51.5 percent of the pitches he's seeing this year, down from 59.9 percent last year. More importantly, he's chasing far fewer pitches out of the strike zone this year (swinging at 33.3 percent of pitches out of the strike zone) than last year (42.7 percent).
There seems to be a pretty good chance that Ramirez equals, if not surpasses, his 2008 numbers. And, given how terrible he was in the first month and a half of the season, that's pretty good. If only the Sox could figure out how to get him to hit in cold weather or petition the schedule makers to push opening day back to May 20...
Defensively, UZR likes Ramirez (2.0), but he still has some work to do before he can be considered an above-average shortstop. At times, he'll have lazy footwork, be out of position, and/or make bad throws that have really hurt the Sox in some games. It's obvious that he's more comfortable at shortstop as opposed to second base, but sometimes, it seems like he's too comfortable and has mental lapses that shouldn't happen.
Regardless, Ramirez has been coming on strong as of late and should be ready for a solid second half.
Offensive grade: B-
Defensive grade: C+
After going hitless in his first 13 MLB at-bats, Beckham has hit .297/.363/.465 with three home runs (not including today's 2/4 performance, so those are actually a little bit higher). For a guy who wasn't even signed at this point last year, that's pretty darn impressive.
The White Sox handled the Beckham situation very well (which actually was a bit surprising given the "savior" comments Ozzie Guillen made about Beckham early in his time with the Sox), leaving him in the lineup to adjust to MLB pitching. He's done just that, and while he's still a long way from reaching his ceiling, he's laid a very nice foundation to build on for after the All-Star break.
Even if Beckham doesn't develop some consistent power this year, he has an outside chance of upping his OPS+ to around 100, which would be a huge success for his rookie year. At this point, I'm very pleased with the way Beckham has hit so early in his career, so while his numbers may not be through the roof, he's earned himself a good grade at the plate.
Defensively, Beckham is still very rough around the edges. He's a good athlete, but makes a lot of mistakes that shouldn't be entirely excused, but also shouldn't be held too much against a guy who's playing third base for the first time in his career. However, he's been better than Josh Fields defensively, so just keep in mind that it actually could be worse whenever he goes through defensive lapses (like today).
Offensive grade: B
Defensive grade: C-
I can't say I have any problems with the way Nix has performed as an uber-utility player. He can play second, short, third, and even a little outfield all while hitting a hard .239. He has the fifth-highest slugging percentage on the team, and if his .235 BABIP regresses toward the mean, he'll finish the year with some pretty nice numbers for a utility player.
Defensively, Nix has seen the most time at second base, where he has a 3.2 UZR. He doesn't have a ton of innings at 3B, SS, LF, and RF, but he doesn't have a negative UZR at any of those positions. Given the differences between all five positions, Nix has done a great job with the glove so far.
Offensive grade: C+
Defensive grade: A
Fields is a perfect example of what can happen to a player when there's a major hole in his approach that can't be corrected and scouting reports figure that hole out. Fields hasn't been able to hit high fastballs very well in his career, but the book wasn't out on him when he hit 23 home runs in 2007. This year, the book was simple: throw Fields anything hard above the bellybutton and he probably won't hit it. Combined with cut fastballs, Fields has seen 6.6 percent more fastballs than he did in 2007, and as a result, he really struggled at the plate.
His .302 BABIP doesn't indicate any sort of bad luck, just that teams have the book on Fields and he hasn't been able to adjust. Maybe he needs a fresh start elsewhere, or maybe he'll just never be able to build off what was a very nice rookie campaign two years ago.
Defensively, Fields' work at "Camp Cora" in the offseason never seemed to pay off. He still really struggled ranging to his left and right, and as a result, he goes into the All-Star break with a -5.1 UZR, second-worst on the team to Jermaine Dye. However, Dye has been able to make up for his defensive issues with a solid offensive year. Fields hasn't been able to do that.
Offensive grade: D-
Defensive grade: D-
Castro hasn't done a whole lot at the plate, but he hasn't been out-and-out terrible and at the least, Jose Contreras has pitched out of his mind with Castro as his own personal catcher. Even if Castro doesn't start seeing better offensive production in the second half, the trade to get him from the Mets for Lance Broadway will look like a success if Contreras keeps pitching so well.
Offensive grade: D
Defensive grade: B
Corky Miller (no longer in majors)
Miller actually wasn't doing a terrible job when Castro replaced him about two months into the season. Yeah, offensively he wasn't very good, but he at least brought a solid arm to the table. Did he deserve to be in the majors? No, probably not, but I always felt like the Sox could have done a whole lot worse than Miller as a backup to AJ Pierzynski. However, like I said earlier, Castro's done his job as Contreras' personal catcher, so I don't think anybody's going to be pining for Corky any time soon.
Offensive grade: D-
Defensive grade: B
Wilson Betemit (no longer in majors)
Betemit was mercifully DFA'd in early June to make room for Gordon Beckham after posting a 53 OPS+ with awful defense. The guy who was supposed to be Juan Uribe's replacement was so bad at third and short that he was relegated to backup first base duties, in which he was still pretty terrible. He never hit the ball well and eventually became half of a testimony to how badly the White Sox got fleeced in the Nick Swisher trade (with the other half being Jeff Marquez and his incredible 10.35 ERA with Triple-A Charlotte).
Offensive grade: F
Defensive grade: F
Brent Lillibridge (no longer in majors)
Lillibridge had an OPS+ of 20 before the Sox finally figured out he's just not a major leaguer in May. All he brought to the table was speed and below-average defense. Luckily for the Sox, Jayson Nix has been good enough as a utility player that Lillibridge shouldn't sniff the majors any time soon.
Offensive grade: F
Defensive grade: D
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