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Royals series preview: The Chicago White Sox

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Chicago White Sox v Detroit Tigers Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images

The Royals antepenultimate series (one game in the Bronx doth not a series make) will pit them against the divisional cellar-dwelling Chicago White Sox. The Royals—in the throes of a swoon since Dayton Moore pushed his meager pot into the middle of the table at the trade deadline—have little time and less hope of seizing a playoff spot. In short, this series isn’t likely to mean a whole lot in the greater scheme of things.

The game times and pitching matchups are as follows:

  • Friday, September 22, 7:10 PM CDT - Jason Hammel versus Reynaldo López
  • Saturday, September 23, 6:10 PM CDT - Danny Duffy (L) versus Dylan Covey
  • Sunday, September 24, 1:10 PM CDT - Sam Gaviglio versus Lucas Giolito

Royals at White Sox pitching matchups

Pitcher G IP K K% BB BB% ERA FIP xFIP SIERA fWAR rWAR
Pitcher G IP K K% BB BB% ERA FIP xFIP SIERA fWAR rWAR
Jason Hammel 30 171.0 135 17.8 46 6.1 5.05 4.35 5.01 4.72 2.1 1.6
Reynaldo López 6 35.1 23 15.0 12 7.8 4.84 4.71 5.91 5.57 0.4 0.3
Danny Duffy (L) 22 136.0 124 22.1 36 6.4 3.71 3.46 4.33 4.21 3.1 3.2
Dylan Covey 16 58.1 33 12.6 31 11,8 8.18 7.68 5.79 5.86 -1.2 -1.3
Sam Gaviglio 15 73.1 49 16.0 24 7.8 4.30 5.76 4.75 4.89 -0.2 0.7
Lucas Giolito 6 38.1 29 19.0 12 7.8 2.58 5.19 4.59 4.63 0.2 1.2

It’s easy to like the first two matchups for the Royals, as both Jason Hammel and Danny Duffy have to be favored against Reynaldo López—whose potential remains just that—and Dylan Covey. López possesses a filthy repertoire but the results in his stints in the majors thus far have not been nearly as impressive as his stuff. Covey has been abysmal by virtually every measure. Lucas Giolito has enjoyed a nice run thus far, but much of his sterling ERA correlates directly to his .186 BABIP that is obviously not sustainable.

Chicago White Sox position players

Player Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
Player Pos PA HR R RBI SB AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ fWAR rWAR
José Abreu 1B 640 31 91 98 3 .304 .356 .549 ,377 138 3.8 4.3
Avisaíl García RF 520 17 67 77 5 .333 .381 .503 .375 136 3.6 4.1
Yolmer Sánchez (S) 3B 497 11 60 54 8 .263 .318 .413 .312 93 1.9 3.1
Omar Narváez (L) C 284 2 21 14 0 .270 .367 .332 .315 95 1.4 1.0
Yoan Moncada (S) 2B 189 7 26 20 3 .241 .349 .432 .340 112 0.8 1.5
Nick Delmonico (L) LF 136 8 22 18 2 .263 .382 .491 .376 137 0.8 0.8
Tim Anderson SS 565 16 66 53 14 .263 .281 .412 .294 81 0.3 1.0
Willy Garcia OF 108 2 13 11 0 .250 .308 .427 .311 93 0.1 0
Rob Brantly (L) C 25 0 2 2 0 .238 .360 .286 .302 86 0.0 0
Kevan Smith C 269 3 22 25 0 .278 .305 .377 .293 81 0.0 -0.1
Rymer Liriano LF 27 1 3 4 1 ,200 .259 .360 .268 63 0.0 0.1
Alen Hanson (S) OF 168 4 28 10 9 .242 .287 .392 .290 78 -0.3 0.1
Adam Engel CF 299 6 32 20 7 .181 .248 .311 .246 48 -0.5 -0.5
Matt Davidson DH/3B 416 25 41 64 0 .219 .262 .454 .299 85 -0.8 -0.7
Tyler Saladino IF 264 0 22 10 5 .185 .260 .239 .228 36 -1.0 -0.7

José Abreu, Avisaíl García, and Yolmer Sanchez have all been great. The rest of the squad? Somewhere between “eh, they’re non-awful” to “ugh, get these guys away from me.”

Poll

How will the Royals fare in Chicago?

This poll is closed

  • 50%
    Royals sweep
    (44 votes)
  • 27%
    Royals take two of three
    (24 votes)
  • 17%
    White Sox take two of three
    (15 votes)
  • 5%
    White Sox sweep
    (5 votes)
88 votes total Vote Now

All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference through action on Wednesday, September 20.

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