Former Razorback Benintendi enjoying recent power surge

He was 2-for-4 Sunday with four RBIs, his eighth-inning home run pulling the Sox within a run of the crosstown Chicago Cubs.

It was Benintendi's fifth multi-hit game in his last 10 starts, but not enough to prevent a 5-4 loss to the Cubs, who are tied for the fewest losses in MLB with the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays.

“Today was the first day in a while I squared up a few balls and hit the ball hard,” Benintendi said. “I’m just trying to build on that.”

He's being a bit modest, although he did have only two hits in his previous 12 at-bats. For the season, he has 13 home runs, 42 RBIs and 39 runs in 272 at-bats.

That would put the former Razorback All-American on pace for about 84 RBIs, 78 runs and 26 homers had he not missed time twice for injuries.

For the season he's hitting .239, reaching base at a .307 clip, and is slugging .441. That adds up to an impressive .748 OPS, well above the MLB average of .700.

While his average and on-base are a bit sub-par, Benintendi has admitted to chasing the long ball, obviously a trend in pro ball for many years now.

"Teams notice that trend and they go soft away, things like that. It's different each series to see how teams will attack you. It's a cat-and-mouse game."

When he starred for coach Dave Van Horn's Razorbacks in 2015, it didn't much matter how opponents pitched to Benintendi.

The sweet-swinging lefty put together a season for the ages with an amazing slash line (average, on-base, slugging, on-base plus slugging) of .376/.488/.717/1.205. He had 20 home runs, 57 RBIs, 62 runs, 50 walks and stole 24-of-28 bases.

All those numbers, plus stellar defense in center field, earned Benintendi the Golden Spikes Award, known as the baseball equivalent of college football's Heisman Trophy.

He was the seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft, taken by the Boston Red Sox. He was in the big leagues by the next season and homered in the 2016 playoffs.

He enjoyed a superb 2017 season while finishing second to Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees for American League Rookie of the Year.

Benintendi would've won in almost any other season as he had 20 homers, 90 RBIs, 84 runs, 70 walks, 26 doubles and stole 20-of-25 bases. His slash line was .271/.352/.424/.776.

In his first two-plus seasons, Benintendi played in five postseason series with the Red Sox, three when they won the 2018 World Series. In 21 postseason games, he hit .272 with an OPS of .729, two homers, nine RBIs, 18 runs and two steals.

He even saved the Red Sox from going into extra innings, or losing in the ninth, when he beat the odds to make a sensational game-ending catch and beat the Houston Astros.

He appeared headed for stardom but has been little more than a solid, if unspectacular, starting outfielder the last eight years.

But now, while carrying a hot bat but also a big contract, the question is how big a price will a team in the playoff hunt pay to obtain the Chicago White Sox's three-hole hitter?

Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers might not hesitate to trade prospects for Benintendi and absorb his hefty contract. He's in the third season a five-year, $75 million deal and is owed $47.5 million for the remainder of the contract.

Both he and White Sox teammate Luis Robert Jr. have heard their names mentioned in trade talks, although Robert has been sidelined recently by injury.

The White Sox won six of their first seven games following the All Star break but dropped the last two of their three-game series with the Cubs.

The Sox are 38-68, the second worst record in MLB, but with 11 more wins than the Colorado Rockies.

The Sox have a promising group of young talent, which includes left-handed starting pitcher Hagen Smith, another Arkansas All American who was the 2024 college Pitcher of the Year and the No. 6 pick in the draft.

So, the White Sox might choose to build around Benintendi. Or, if they find a rich suitor, they could move him for draft picks and to take money off their books.

The trade deadline is Thursday, so stay tuned.

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