The White Sox Offense Is Finishing Up A Historically Awful Season

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At this point, a story explaining how bad the 2024 White Sox are may seem to be piling on and stating the obvious. But as clear as the team’s futility is (115 losses and counting), you may not realize just how historically bad the lineup has been.

So far this season, the White Sox have scored 470 runs, which comes out to 3.11 runs per game. That’s worst in the majors this year by more than half a run per game (the Marlins’ 3.78 runs per game is 29th). It’s 1.3 runs per game worse than the MLB average.

Again, I’m telling you something you probably already know.: This White Sox team is really awful.

But did you know that at their current rate, the White Sox will finish with the fewest runs scored by any MLB team in a 162-game season in the past 50 years?

The current record holders are the 2010 Mariners, who scored 513 runs for 3.17 runs per game. With 11 games to play, the White Sox are currently below that pace.

Runs scored as a stat is somewhat contextual. The league and stadium environments play a role. But that’s not the only way to spell out just how historically depressing this current White Sox lineup is.

By Fangraphs WAR, Chicago’s position group ranks as the third worst of the past 50 years—trailing only the 1979 As and 1977 Braves—and the overall worst in the past 40 years.

A closer look at the individual players makes this even more depressing.

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While outfielder Luis Robert Jr.’s 1.2 bWAR leads the team, it ranks 186th among MLB position players. Yoan Moncada’s 0.4 bWAR ranks second on the team, even though he’s played in just 11 games this season. Jacob Amaya (15 games) and Zach Remillard (15 games) also rank among the White Sox’s bWAR leaders, partly because they’ve barely played.

Of the position players with 100+ plate appearances, Robert is the only one above 0.5 bWAR. Five others (Andrew Vaughn, the traded Paul DeJong, Dominic Fletcher, Nicky Lopez and Brooks Baldwin) are above 0.0 bWAR, while another 10 position players with 100+ plate appearances have negative bWAR, which effectively says they have been playing at replacement level or below.

And, unfortunately, here’s the most discouraging aspect of all for White Sox fans: There’s little indication that this situation should get much better through natural development.

The 1979 A’s may have been awful offensively, but that team had a 20-year-old Rickey Henderson taking his lumps. Dwayne Murphy was a 24-year-old center fielder who was one of the best defenders in the game and was having his first above-average offensive season. Tony Armas was a 25-year-old right fielder who was starting to blossom (and would finish 12th in the MVP voting a year later).

The 1977 Braves, meanwhile, had a 26-year-old Gary Matthews who was a consistently excellent hitter and a 21-year-old Dale Murphy getting some time. Jeff Burroughs was a 26-year-old just three years removed from being the AL MVP who would go on to lead the league in on-base percentage in 1978.

Those 1979 A’s had the second-youngest lineup in the majors. The 1977 Braves also had the second-youngest lineup in MLB. They were young teams taking their lumps, with hope that there would be an eventual payoff.

There is very little hope for the future from this current White Sox lineup.

The White Sox have the 15th-youngest lineup in the league in 2024. The Guardians (who lead the AL Central) have MLB’s youngest lineup. The Tigers (who are in the playoff race in the divison) are fifth youngest, while the Royals (also a likely AL Central playoff team) are slightly younger than the White Sox. Only the Twins have an older lineup among AL Central teams.

Robert, the White Sox’s best position player, is under contract through 2027, but Moncada, the team’s other cornerstone position player, is a free agent this offseason.

The only White Sox position players under the age of 25 who have received any playing time this year are 22-year-old third baseman Bryan Ramos (.194/.234/.319), 23-year-old infielder Brooks Baldwin (.211/.250/.316), 24-year-old third baseman Miguel Vargas (.108/.214/.167) and 24-year-old third baseman Lenyn Sosa (.242/.269/.325).

While there is hope that some of those youngsters will improve and carve out larger roles in the future, it’s hard to say that any of them are ready to take a more prominent role in 2025. And among Chicago’s top 10 prospects are only three position players: shortstop Colson Montgomery, catcher Edgar Quero and Ramos.

No one expects the White Sox to contend anytime soon, but if they are going to claw their way back to being a representative big league team in the next few years, they are going to have to find a way to improve the lineup, and much of that will likely have to come from external sources.