PHOENIX – At the Major League level, the 2024 White Sox have one eye on their team’s daily results and the other on how some of their young players could be an important part of their future.
That is the case with two figures who, after stumbles and additional assignments in Triple-A Charlotte, have begun to find a way to make themselves felt with the wood. They are about Venezuelan Lenyn Sosa and the Cuban Oscar Colás. Both have returned from the minor league in recent weeks and have attracted attention with what they did in the month of June.
“They are two guys who have been much looser at the Major League level. They have begun to believe that they belong at this level and that they can be successful here,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol.
In Sosa’s case, the 24-year-old is hitting .360/.407/.540 (.847 OPS) in 50 plate appearances since returning to the big team on May 31. That was after a stay in Charlotte sparked by a .132/.154/.184 start with 13 strikeouts in 40 opportunities for the White Sox in April. According to Sosa, the key was reorganizing himself with his routine and regaining a mentality that would give him success at the highest level of baseball.
“Mainly it has been confidence and mental concentration. more than everything,” explained Sosa, who on Saturday was within one triple of hitting for the cycle in a Chicago triumph over Arizona at Chase Field in Phoenix. “I think the work I was doing in Triple-A has helped me have the results I have had here. When they dropped me, I was a little lost, but thank God, in Triple-A I focused and each day I came with a purpose, a goal. When I began to have results in Triple-A, I told myself that I had to continue doing what I had been doing, trusting in my plan, in my routine and staying healthy, which is the most important thing.”
Like what Grifol expressed about how “loose” Sosa and Colás look right now, the Puerto Ordaz native points out that part as crucial in his rebound.
“It was more mental than mechanical,” Sosa said of his adjustments in Charlotte. “I focused on mentality. Being in Triple-A, she thought as if she were in the Major Leagues. I think that’s what helped me have the results I have here today. Focus turn after turn, repeat the same routine, the same swing. I tried to stick to one routine, no matter the circumstance, and I think that’s what’s helped me here.”
In the case of Colás, the outfielder was rated as the White Sox’s number 2 prospect as recently as last year and began 2023 with the big team, after signing a high-profile contract after leaving Cuba. However, he did not take off, he spent a lot of time last season in Charlotte and even started this season at that level. But due to injuries to outfield figures such as the Dominican Eloy Jiménez and Andrew Benintendi, the native of Havana has received another opportunity in the big team. He is striking out less – as is Sosa – and is hitting .310 with a .394 on-base percentage in 29 at-bats since he was recalled by Chicago on June 2.
“It’s been a process… I’m not going to say it’s been easy,” Colás said of his path over the past year. “It has been quite difficult. I just took it as part of the process and kept working harder. I have also come a little more focused, a little more concentrated on the things I have to do on the field.”
For Grifol, the most striking thing he has seen from the Sosa-Colás duo is the way they have faced the daily task of being Major League players in a general sense.
“The game has slowed down for them, and that’s when we as an organization began to really evaluate the player,” said the foreman, of Cuban descent. “It’s difficult to evaluate a player who is still trying to find his way and the game is still going a little fast for him. Over time, when the game slows down for them, you can start to really evaluate their tools and how they’re going to work here.
“Both guys have a lot of tools; They just need to let loose a little, relax and play. When that becomes routine for the players, that’s when you can evaluate them.”
So part of that evaluation, of course, is trying to figure out how they will fit into the White Sox during the club’s rebuild and, the team hopes, a collective success after that long process.
“Without a doubt,” Grifol said when touching on the topic. “If they both play up to their potential, of course, they are going to be really good players.”
