The White Sox spent the offseason trying to rebuild their outfield, but the puzzle has only gotten messier as the season has gone on.
Back on Opening Day in 2025, they had five outfielders on the roster. By Opening Day in 2026, only Andrew Benintendi was still there in the same role.
Since then, the group has kept changing shape because of injuries, poor production and a few breakout performances from the minors. Even after things seemed to settle down, Chicago has gone back into the shuffle again.
The season began with a six-man outfield, but that setup has barely survived the year. Derek Hill was traded to the Phillies, Luisangel Acuna shifted into a utility role off the bench, Everson Pereira was DFA'd, and Benintendi moved into a full-time D.H. spot.
That left Tristan Peters as the one constant, with the season-opening bench player now getting regular starts in center field against righties. Austin Hays and Pereira both went down early, which pushed the White Sox to add Jarred Kelenic, though that experiment didn’t last long.
Randall Grichuk also arrived and has been productive, but he’s mostly filled the D.H. role against lefties rather than becoming a regular outfield piece.
The club has also leaned on rookies along the way. Sam Antonacci, Rikuu Nishida, Junior Perez and Braden Montgomery have all chipped in at different points. When Pereira came back from his latest injury, it looked like the constant movement might finally be over.
Then came the latest twist.
Before the trade deadline, the White Sox landed Colorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle, a move that caught people off guard and triggered the DFA of both Hays and Pereira. Pereira was quickly claimed on waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago suddenly found itself even thinner than before.
Now the biggest issue is not who’s on the roster, but how the playing time gets sorted out.
Doyle is an elite defender in center field, but his bat has never matched that glove. His career OPS+ is 76, and the corners are generally bat-first spots, which makes Doyle’s value pretty much tied to center.
A platoon with Peters looks like the most obvious answer. Peters has been one of the better stories on the roster, posting a .730 OPS and making the All-Star team, but he’s also in the middle of a rough slump, so it’s fair to wonder how long he can keep producing in that role.
The White Sox have often preferred platoons, so Doyle probably profiles as the right-handed complement to Peters.
Still, Doyle is an odd fit even in that setup, because he hasn’t hit especially well against lefties either. He’s a player I like, but I’d rather have Antonacci, and maybe even Peters, in the lineup every time, even against a left-hander. Doyle also can’t cover both Antonacci and Peters at once, which is part of the problem.
His biggest selling point is defense, and that matters in center. It matters a lot less in the corners. If the White Sox preferred Doyle over Pereira, who has been a pretty solid right-handed hitter, that could point to a more complicated plan for how they want regular at-bats distributed.
Antonacci adds another layer. He’s naturally a second baseman, but he’s been used in left field because the infield is crowded.
The transition hasn’t been flawless, and the numbers are not kind to him there - Fangraphs has him at -2 DRS, -5 OAA and -6 FRV - but he has handled the move well enough. One possibility is that the Sox could give him more time back in the infield, slide Peters to left and keep Doyle in center.
That idea has its own issues, though. It’s hard to see Antonacci getting more infield work if that means benching Chase Meidroth.
Meidroth has taken a big step forward as a hitter and has become one of the team’s core players. His 3.0 fWAR is second on the club.
Peters also doesn’t really need to leave center, where he has been a plus player. Antonacci may have more value in his natural spot, but he’s been serviceable in left, and that’s enough for now.
Braden Montgomery is the other name to watch. He’s in right field and has a .674 OPS, and that number has slipped a bit since the All-Star break, going from .696 to .637.
He’s one of the organization’s top prospects and has graded well defensively, so a return to Triple-A feels unlikely unless the offense gets worse. The White Sox have shown they’re willing to move struggling players, though, so even if a demotion doesn’t happen, Montgomery could lose some of his biggest-game opportunities.
At some point, the White Sox also have to decide whether to carry a fifth outfielder. Acuna, Grichuk and Benintendi can all handle the outfield, even if they’re not ideal choices there.
Perez could also be recalled from Triple-A whenever needed. Instead of settling on one clear answer, Chicago has built a roster full of options.
That’s where the outfield stands now: plenty of capable names, but no clean solution. The White Sox may have the right players on hand. The harder part is figuring out whether they’re in the right spots.
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