Chicago White Sox manager praises 25-year-old infielder

Through 54 games, Sosa has seen his average jump 32 points as well as seeing his OBP and SLG be over .300 and .400 for the first time in his career (.286/.304/.402 OPS and OPS+ .706 100). Sosa’s .286 average is good enough to be the leader for the White Sox, and his 54 hits are also a team lead.

These improvements that Sosa has made have Venable impressed with his confidence and decision-making at the plate.

Via Kade Heather of the Chicago Sun-Times:

“[He’s] just really confident out there,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “He’s done a really good job, and we’ve talked about him chasing and how that can kind of hinder his performance. You have to make good swing decisions and he’s made better swing decisions and the swings that he is getting off, he’s hitting the ball extremely hard.”

Venable also notes Sosa’s improvements in his chase rate, saying he’s shortened his stroke at the plate, and that even though he expands the zone from time to time, he still can hit a lot of pitches.

“He knows a moving bat is a dangerous bat and has shortened up the stroke a little bit with two strikes and [he’s] doing a good job of putting the ball in play,” Venable said.

“He does expand the zone from time to time, but I think because he can hit a lot of different pitches,” Venable said. “I think we’re seeing his ability to put good swings on a lot of different pitches.”

More statistics from the Chicago White Sox middle infielder

When looking at Sosa’s advanced metrics via his Baseball Savant page, he does rank in the 93rd percentile for landing the sweet spot of the bat on the ball, doing so at a 42.2% clip. Sosa has put together a solid first couple of months as well, having a .293 average and .686 OPS in April, and a .306 average and .769 OPS for May.

Sosa has also shown the ability to hit both lefties and righties this season, having virtually a mirrored slash line against both. In 31 games (58 at-bats) against lefties, Sosa is hitting .293/.305/.397 for an OPS of .702, while in 50 games (131 at-bats) against righties, he’s hitting .282/.304/.405 for an OPS of .709.

With still being young enough and under team control for another few seasons, Sosa could be playing himself into being a future piece of this organization. If that’s not in the cards, then Sosa could be a critical asset to trade at the trade deadline to improve the roster elsewhere.