The White Sox will select the contract of infielder Danny Mendick prior to tomorrow’s game with the Twins, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (X link). Infielder Lenyn Sosa will be optioned to Triple-A to make room on the 26-man roster, and another transaction will need to be made to make space for Mendick on the 40-man.
Mendick is a familiar face on the South Side, as he made his big league debut with the White Sox in 2019 and hit .251/.309/.366 over 446 plate appearances from 2019-22. He played mostly second base and shortstop in a utility capacity, while also seeing sporadic action as a third baseman and in both corner outfield spots. A torn ACL in June 2022 ended not just Mendick’s 2022 season but also his tenure in Chicago, as the Sox non-tendered him that winter.
The Mets inked Mendick to a one-year, $1MM big league deal and he hit .185/.232/.277 in 69 PA and 33 games of part-time action in 2023. Mendick then reunited with the White Sox on a minor league contract, and he has booked a ticket back to the Show thanks to one of the biggest hot streaks of his professional career. The 30-year-old has homered in each of his last five games with Triple-A Charlotte, and is hitting an absurd .317/.388/.817 over 67 PA this season.
While nobody expects Mendick to keep up this kind of production against big league pitching, the White Sox can’t be faulted for going with the hot hand given the dire state of their lineup. Sosa is one of several Chicago players producing next to nothing at the plate, and Mendick might well cut into the playing time of starting second baseman Nicky Lopez (who is batting only .176/.288/.176 in 61 PA). Shortstop Paul DeJong is also day-to-day after being hit on the elbow by a pitch in Saturday’s game, so Lopez could slide over to shortstop with DeJong out and open up the keystone for Mendick entirely.
Was at that game getting a hot dog when he had that season ending play in 22 on a drive down the line. Brutal. Happy he’s all the way back
I think this year’s White Sox team is worse than last year’s A’s. I think this team is on its way to lose 120+ games. If Mendick can hit about as half as well as he did in AAA, I figure the Sox will lose 118+ games instead of 120+ games.
Yeah, so bad it’s embarrassing. When you think they can’t get any worse…
Losing that many games is nearly impossible. Even the A’s last season didn’t up close to that record. Even the worst teams in mlb history fail to reach that mark.
never give up hope that the White Sox can do worse than you could ever imagine
I did some research before I said that comment about the worst teams in MLB history. They are a bad team, but this isn’t the first time in their history that they started this terribly. They are many teams that started even worse like the 1988 Orioles(was 0-21 to start the year) and still got 54-107.
I wonder if pharmorlovr ran into Danny, maybe at the gyros place around Guaranteed Rate?
“Ran into Danny at the pharmacy, saw him buying Ricolas for a plane trip. I asked him why he was buying 2 packs, and he said he likes both flavors. I guess you can have your cake and eat it, too.”
Or something like that…
Mendick will get up to the big league club and forget how to hit, like the rest of these guys. The only silver lining has been Sheets. Imagine that, give a guy a chance to bat everyday and he starts hitting. What a concept. As for the rest of these deadsticks, they will get the hitting coach fired, or should.. whether he deserves it or not. But he will not he, like Grifol and Katz, will likely last until the end of the year or until their contracts run out, as ‘The Chairman’ hates to throw money away cut bait on some of these guys (even though the org does it all the time with bad contracts).
That is the real issue with this club, and the Bulls, a horrible lack of accountability and it shows if the lack of effort by this club and the coaching staff.
Won’t be surprised if that happened. Sosa was also hit with the first sentence as well. We as fans don’t really know what happens behind closed doors.
Don’t get too excited about Sheets. He goes hitless in his next 5 at bats and his batting average will be below his weight.. You hit the nail on the head with one word describing the Sox, “accountability.” Reinsdorf and company can’t spell the word.
I knew Mendick was coming!
Things are getting hard in Chicago.
And into a white sock, no less
with him in that lineup I’d hope they provide protection
We all did!
Is there another old Sox set to return to Chicago? I’m talking about Abreu. How much of his contract would the Astros have to retain to put him in Sox threads? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pimping for his return. I was one of the voices at the time that said he shouldn’t be re-signed. Apart from his big salary, the aging Abreu with rapidly declining skills is exactly the type of player that Getz has been targeting. Work out the money issue, and you’ll see Abreu manning 1B and taking swings at DH. Of course, that would mean Baby moved to RF, which would fulfil one of Grifol’s deluded goals. At some point this season, b prepared to welcome back Abreu.
Maybe the could work out an Abreu for Benintendi deal. Change of scenery for both.
Bring Leury back!
Why not? The Sox are still paying him 5 million dollars this season.
Maybe as a coach, not a player. The Sox can trade Grifol for him.
He was having a solid year in ‘22, just shy of .800 OPS when he got injured, a game I happened to be at. Glad to see him back and wish him the best. He hustles and plays the game the right way and sadly that’s something you don’t see as much as you should on the south side
The only reason to watch is their keystone cops type performance. It would be even worse if they were losing this bad while playing fundamental baseball.
Im just waiting for Ozzie to lose it on this team in the post game show, its really the only reason to watch a this point. Its sad to see the Sox cheerleaders (like Garfien and this new kid in the booth) still trying to polish the turd.
Shut out 8 times in the first 22 games!
dump grifols
053 are you kidding me? See you later Mr. Grifol!!