The White Sox’s final week before the All-Star break put their handedness problem in bright neon.
They got swept by Boston, then turned around and swept the Athletics, and the split was extreme even by baseball’s usual weird standards. The Red Sox rolled out three left-handed starters from the back of the rotation, and the Sox answered with one run, zero runs and one run.
Against Oakland, a lefty opener retired all five batters he faced in the first game, then a right-handed bulk reliever came in and the White Sox exploded for 14 runs. The next night, against a normal left-handed starter, they managed one run.
In the finale, facing a pretty decent right-hander, they scored nine.
That kind of swing is hard to ignore, even if the lineup without Munetaka Murakami doesn’t immediately scream “platoon disaster.” But the numbers tell a different story.
Tristan Peters is the clearest example of why Will Venable keeps sitting a .300-plus hitter in favor of Junior Perez against lefties. Peters has been excellent against right-handers, hitting .324/.376/.523 for an .899 OPS, but he has been a mess against southpaws at .111/.172/.111 for a .284 OPS. His three hits against lefties are all singles and were probably all bunts.
Colson Montgomery is the opposite kind of problem. He actually hits lefties better than righties, and by a noticeable margin.
Against right-handed pitching, he’s at .206/.294/.433 for a .727 OPS. Against lefties, he jumps to .250/.319/.546 for an .866 OPS.
The likely explanation is that his biggest issue is high fastballs, which don’t care which arm the pitcher throws with, and he also struggles with breaking balls under his hands.
Leaguewide, platoon splits are usually modest because managers spend so much time gaming matchups and shielding vulnerable hitters. Right-handed batters post a .692 OPS against righties and a .750 OPS against lefties.
Left-handed hitters are at .679 against lefties and .731 against righties. Small edges, nothing dramatic.
The White Sox, though, have several players whose splits help explain the team-wide mess.
Miguel Vargas, the All-Star right-handed power bat, has been strong in both lanes but better against lefties: .233/.338/.454 against righties and .272/.395/.583 against lefties.
Chase Meidroth, a right-handed contact hitter, has the kind of split that catches you off guard. He’s at .247/.325/.342 against righties and .320/.381/.466 against lefties.
Murakami, despite missing time, has been exactly the force you’d expect against righties: .250/.383/.595. Against lefties, he’s still above average at .190/.342/.413, with the low batting average offset by walks and power.
Sam Antonacci may be the most revealing name in the group. The left-handed hitter and contact-oriented spark plug has been excellent against righties at .314/.405/.475, but he’s been rough against lefties at .193/.292/.211. That’s a big part of the problem, especially because he’s been such a central part of the team’s identity.
Braden Montgomery, a switch-hitter with just 29 games under his belt, has also shown a glaring split. He’s hit righties at .233/.325/.438, but lefties have held him to .226/.242/.290. In a small sample of 31 plate appearances from that side, he has only one walk and 10 strikeouts.
Kyle Teel’s sample is too small to mean much, with only 51 at-bats, though he has shown the usual kind of split.
Andrew Benintendi, a left-handed hitter, has fared much better against righties at .251/.313/.458 than against lefties at .182/.229/.212, though he has only 33 at-bats versus southpaws. His career OPS against lefties is .703, and he had reverse splits last year, so this may be a case of either forgetting how to hit them or the pitchers learning how to attack him.
Luisangel Acuña, listed here as a right-handed contact and speed player even though Chris Getz thinks he’s a switch-hitter, has been almost the same hitter either way: .229/.286/.277 against righties and .258/.265/.288 against lefties. The average is better against lefties, as you’d expect, but the lack of walks keeps the OPS nearly identical.
So yes, there are reasons the White Sox have hit right-handed pitching better. But there aren’t nearly enough reasons to explain how wide the gap has become. For now, they’re left hoping opponents don’t keep finding lefties to throw at them - whether from the minors or, as the piece put it, out of the bleachers - and hoping the lineup eventually learns how to handle them.
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