With Spring Training about to spring up, several sites have predicted a probable White Sox starting lineup for 2026, from the major sports outfits to blogs like our own. On none of them (at least none I’ve seen) is the Sox leading homer-hitter of 2025 anywhere to be seen. Well, anywhere except as a possible sub.
Whither indeed, Lenyn Sosa?
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Such an omission would have been expected in any prior year, since until 2025 Sosa compensated for terrible fielding by not hitting a lick, either. Back then, it would have been no surprise if he was just dumped altogether. But this past season he not only led the Sox in dingers with 22 but he even hit .264, nearly 20 points higher than the MLB average and his own career level.
Those batting improvements, incidentally, came at the expense of right-handed pitchers. Prior to 2025, Sosa’s splits were a typical .637 OPS vs. righties and .732 vs. lefties. Last year, though, he hit southpaws about the same (.740) but took a big jump up to a .723 OPS vs. northpaws.
So why is he probably the odd man out in the infield with the addition of Munetaka Murakami to play first, given Lenyn played a lot more at second — 99 games to 42? Horrible defense is the primary reason, which is a quandary.
Way back in 2020, when Sosa was the No. 30 ranked prospect in the White Sox system according to MLB, the scouting report on his D said his “instincts should help him make plays and his hands are very reliable.” Huh?
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You get the feeling whoever wrote that report had never seen Sosa play. Watch him a few times and you’ll inevitably come to the conclusion you’ve never seen a professional infielder, major or minor, with less in the way of baseball instincts. Heck, he seldom seems to know where to be or what to do. Hope that scout got a nice retirement package on his way to the home.
Murakami has a reputation as a lousy defender himself (so much for Chris Getz’s vow for improved defense). But if it turns out Murakami really can hit pitches faster than 92 mph, his potentially amazing offense will more than atone for any lapses while in the field.
Sosa has no such upside.
BUT IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT DEFENSE
Definitely not. Otherwise Sosa would be written into the DH slot ahead of whichever catcher isn’t behind the plate and such fellow fielding embarrassments as Andrew Benintendi. No, there’s also the small matter of getting on base.
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In previous seasons, Lenyn was hard-pressed hit the ball very often, but in 2025 he did better at that — especially at taking balls off the plate outside to right field. The problem is accepting called balls at all.
Last season, Sosa drew 18 walks in 544 plate appearances. Yep, fewer than one every 30 trips to the plate, second-worst in all of MLB to Michael Harris of Atlanta (who had the compensation of being an excellent center fielder and stealing a bunch of bases when he did get on.) That rate wasn’t an anomaly, either, but right in line with Lenyn’s 36 career walks in 1,122 trips to the plate.
Much of that was because of poor plate discipline, but not all. His 40.9% chase rate in 2025 was bad, in the worst 3% of all MLB batters, but not as amazingly bad as the next-to-worst-of-all walk rate. And Sosa only struck out 23.3% of the time, so he was hitting some of those balls he chased.
GOTTA HAVE HIM IN THE CLUTCH, THOUGH, RIGHT?
Well, er, uh, no.
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Baseball-Reference has a category to measure clutch hitting, and it shows Sosa has been clutch-ing. In the “Late & Close” line, he has career slash of .156/.193/.225 and even fewer walks than in other situations, four in 184 times up. That would indicate you not only don’t want Sosa as a pinch-hitter, you want to pinch-hit for him when the going is tough.
Contrast that godawful .419 OPS to a hefty .799 when the Sox are ahead. Lenyn thrives on non-adversity.
Now, in fairness, in late and close situations you’re more likely to face the other team’s best relievers. But still …
WHAT NOW?
Sosa is out of options, so parking him in Charlotte to wait for injuries may not work. Some team who sees the HR numbers from 2025 might want to gamble a waiver claim.
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MLB Trade Rumors included a paragraph on Sosa as part of a longer piece on the Sox Thursday, and quoted Getz as saying, “There’s a little redundancy with the right-handed corner bats.” Apparently Getz, observant as always, hasn’t noticed Murakami hits lefty. Still, that’s not much of a plug for Sosa, and MLBTR doubts he has much trade value.
Thus, it looks like a lot of bench time. And that time could get even longer if the Rangers and Mets were right that Luisangel Acuña is as bad as an outfielder as he is excellent as an infielder and he moves in to second base ahead of Chase Meidroth, who himself is fun to watch there but very inconsistent.
SO?
So Sosa, so-so. But probably not “so-long.” At least so far.
