Photo: Larry Placido/Icon Sportswire

Part of a series of articles previewing the defensive performance of all 30 MLB teams by asking the question … are they good?

To see the full series, click here.

2024 Defensive Runs Saved Rank: 30th

Team Strengths

The White Sox could  have a good defensive outfield.

Michael A. Taylor had 12 Runs Saved in center field last year for the Pirates and topped that total in two of the three years prior to that. He’s an excellent defensive center fielder. He just needs to hit enough to get into the lineup.

Most Defensive Runs Saved – Center Field

Last 4 Seasons

 Dominic Fletcher’s defense in right field was one of the brightest spots of a dismal season. He had 15 Good Fielding Plays and 10 Runs Saved in only 43 games there. For context, only one right fielder had more Good Fielding Plays than Fletcher did.

Luis Robert Jr. was a good center fielder as recently as two years ago and even for a miserable team, he still managed 1 Run Saved in 97 games there last year. Similarly, Mike Tauchman has a good track record and can play all three spots.

Team Weaknesses

Left fielder Andrew Benintendi’s best days seem to be behind him. He had -13 Runs Saved last year, the worst total of anyone at the position. Benintendi is going to miss the start of the season with a fractured hand.

Catcher Korey Lee had a rough go of it last season, tallying -10 Runs Saved there and fared particularly poorly in our pitch framing stat, Strike Zone Runs Saved. 

The rest of what the White Sox have, with players like Andrew Vaughn and Miguel Vargas and Brandon Drury are mostly average at best from a statistical perspective.

Other Things To Know

The White Sox are probably going to eventually play a rookie at shortstop full-time in Colson Montgomery. In three seasons in the minors, he totaled -30 Runs Saved. FanGraphs gives him a Fielding grade of 30 with a Future Value of 40 on the 20 to 80 scale. That’s not great. For now, they’re gonna probably start Josh Rojas at shortstop. He had -13 Runs Saved in a short stint there in 2021 (though he’s not bad at third base). Not great either.

Are The White Sox A Good Defensive Team? No, but given that their outfield should be much better than the -40 Runs Saved in 2024, they may not be as bad defensively as a team last season. But it’s still a long climb to just being average.