Infielder Nick Senzel has elected free agency, per James Fegan of Sox Machine on X. The White Sox had designated Senzel for assignment earlier this week and it appears he cleared waivers. Since he has more than five years of service time, he has the right to elect free agency while also retaining his salary.
Senzel, 29, started the season by signing with the Nationals, a one-year deal with a $2MM guarantee. He hit .209/.303/.359 in 235 plate appearances, production that translated into an 88 wRC+. He was designated for assignment in July and the Nats simply released him, likely due to his aforementioned right to elect free agency.
He then signed a major league deal with the Sox, which didn’t lead to better results. He only got into 10 games in over a month on the roster, stepping to the plate 32 times. He produced a dismal line of .100/.129/.133 in those, dropping his season-long line to .195/.283/.331 and a 73 wRC+. When combined with his time with the Reds in previous seasons, he has slashed .232/.299/.363 for a 76 wRC+ in over 1600 career plate appearances.
He hasn’t been able to provide anything on the other side of the ball either. He came up as a third baseman but the Reds had that spot filled by Eugenio Suárez at the time and moved Senzel around to other spots. He’s now played over 2,000 major league innings in the outfield, as well as over 800 at the hot corner and a brief look at second base to this point in his career. Advanced defensive metrics have given him negative grades at all those spots.
Given that track record, any interest in Senzel at this point would be based on his previous prospect pedigree. The Reds took him second overall in the 2016 draft based on his huge numbers at Tennessee, where he hit .332/.426/.509. He then hit .314/.390/.513 in the minors over the 2016-18 period, which got him onto the top ten of most league-wide prospect lists. But the big offensive production stopped once he reached the majors in 2019.
The results have come in far below expectations thus far, but Senzel is a cheap flier for any club that still has hope of him tapping into his previous form. The Nats are still on the hook for his salary since they released him earlier this year. Any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Nats are paying.
Ummm… seems to me both the Nats and Sox elected FA for him..
You mean he DIDN’T want to go back to the Sox? Huh. Who’d a thunk it?
Senzel isn’t going back to anybody. If he continues to get at-bats ….. He may not even be able to get an invite to a training camp next year. White Sox had no intention of bringing him back. He is electing free agency to avoid getting anymore at-bats this year. He still gets paid whether he plays or not.
How did he get a guaranteed deal this year?
He’s a former second overall pick and he’s a Scott Boras client. He’s definitely not lived up to the draft slot.
Damn getting dfa’d from the Sox feels like it’s rock bottom, hopefully he can latch on to a AAA team somewhere and maybe get another shot down the line
Please share your favorite Nick Senzel moment from his time as a White Sox.
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I bet his favorite moment was when he was DFA’d and became a free agent.
Wow. How bad do does a player have to play to be fired by the white Sox?
Get ready to learn Japanese buddy
Next stop….Independent League