Andrew Benintendi is having a bad time right now in Chicago.
Chicago White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi is in the worst slump of his career
The former Boston Red Sox outfielder is in the midst of the worst slump of his career. Benintendi, who has the beefiest contract on the White Sox roster, is currently hitting .187 with a .487 OPS through 45 games.
Talking to the Chicago Sun-Times Thursday night, Benintendi said luck was a factor in his struggles.
“My batted ball profile is almost better than last year,” Benintendi said to the Sun-Times. “You look at the numbers, I’m the one of unluckiest hitters in the league right now. The expected batting average and expected slug are significantly higher than what the numbers are showing right now.”
Benintendi has a point. According to Baseball Savant, Benintendi’s expected batting average is .251. That 63-point difference is the seventh-largest among qualified players.
That basically means that Benentendi is putting the ball in play, but isn’t getting the drops. According to Baseball Reference, his batting average on balls in play (BAbip) is .213 (vs. an MLB average of .296).
Yes, luck is a factor and advanced statistics show a bright side. But for the most part, the numbers are grim. According to FanGraphs, Benintendi has MLB’s lowest WAR (-1.6) and lowest weighted runs created (36 vs. an average of 100) among qualified players.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters that he doesn’t plan to give up on the team’s starting left fielder. So all the only option at this point is for Benintendi to figure it out.
“You have to keep showing up,” Benintendi said. “I still think I’m way too good a hitter for this to continue. So it can only go up from here. It doesn’t feel like I’m hitting as bad as I am right now. Everybody sees the batting average. When you look deeper, there’s more to the story.”
After bouncing around the American League for a couple of seasons, Benintendi found a long-term home with the White Sox in 2023. The results haven’t followed. In 2023, he hit .262 with a .682 OPS.
This all comes after Benintendi was named an All-Star in 2022, hitting a career-best .304 with a .772 OPS. That led to him landing a five-year, $75 million deal with Chicago. That’s currently the biggest total contract on the White Sox payroll (though injured teamate Yoan Moncada will make more money this season).
The Red Sox drafted Benintendi with the No. 7 overall pick in 2015. It was just a year later that he made his MLB debut with Boston.
Benintendi looked like a budding star early on, especially during the team’s 2018 World Series run. However, things began to tail off after that, leading to the former prize prospect being traded to the Kansas City Royals in 2021.
Benintendi has just squeaked above a .200 average at points this season, but once again finds himself on the wrong side of the Mendoza Line. Over his past seven games, Benintendi has gone 4-of-26 at the plate.
His most recent at-bat was especially rough.
Amid a ninth-inning rally, Benintendi stepped to the plate with one out. It didn’t work out, as he popped out, drawing an infield fly rule. Things got worse when the runner on second was called out as a result of interference, ending the game.
