As the season opener approaches, there is still a lot of mystery of how well the White Sox will perform in the 2024 season. Many people think that they will bad, but a decent group of people are cautiously optimistic. If things go right, which they never seem to do, this White Sox team could surprise a lot of people and win a lot more games than people think. This shouldn’t be hard to do, as they are predicted to win around 63 games. I personally think that is a bit low, as this team has more talent than that.
Regardless, there are always surprises in baseball and the White Sox could be filled with them due to the uncertainty of how certain players will perform. Here are three bold predictions that could vault the White Sox into a much better baseball team.
The White Sox have a very interesting roster. At this point it is clear that Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure will spend significant time on the roster in 2024. This allows them a good chance to show off to the White Sox brass and the league what they can do. This could put them in a prime position to get Rookie of the Year votes.
Both of them have impressed in Spring Training and if that continues into the regular season, they could easily finish well within the top-10. This would be a huge win for the White Sox, as they gave up only Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly, both on expiring contracts, to get this potential dynamic rookie duo.
The third rookie that will round out this list is Colson Montgomery. With the reports that he is starting in AAA, he could join the team by mid June, leaving him three+ months to show off what he can do in the Major Leagues. Even if he is not performing to his highest level, he would still likely receive votes due to his prospect status. Regardless, I believe he will come up and play well immediately, which could easily cement him in the top five of ROY voting, depending on when he comes up.
Drew Thorpe, the headliner in the Dylan Cease trade, also has an opportunity to be a top rookie in the AL. He could also join this list, but it unclear on when he will come up to the majors. If he does and pitches well, he could be the 4th player to get significant ROY votes depending on how he pitches.
Dominic Fletcher could also get some votes, as his rookie status is still intact, so there are plenty of combinations of White Sox players that could be in the race.
Regardless, the White Sox have a few rookies that should be fun to watch and could compete for the Rookie of the Year award.
This one is bold, not because of the talent, but because it would require Eloy Jimenez to stay healthy enough throughout the season to fulfill this projection. But, if he does, he could easily challenge for the homerun title. Eloy has had a fantastic Spring and he looks like he could have the best season of his career.
While he has not been able to recreate the homer numbers from his rookie year with the juiced ball, he still has the strength to hit 40+ homers.
Now, perhaps this will be the least likely of the three predictions to happen, but with protection in the lineup from Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn, he could easily get some pitches to hit out of the park. If he stays healthy, this could be in the realm of possibilities, as long as someone like Aaron Judge doesn’t go nuclear and hit 70 homers.
This might not be too bold, as Soroka is a fantastic pitcher when healthy. But, that has been the problem. Luckily for him, he’s looked good and has been heathy in Spring Training, meaning he could be in for a big season.
If he comes anywhere close to what he was when he was on the Braves, he could even get into the top five of the votes.
Back in 2019, he finished 6th in Cy Young voting as a rookie, so this is really not out of the realm of possibilities. With low expectations on the season, especially compared to the Atlanta Braves season, he could find himself back to where he was just a few years ago with a fresh start.
While these predictions might not come true, there are a lot of interesting players on this year’s roster that could surprise and make the White Sox a more competitive team in 2024 and potentially beyond.
