Well, the White Sox almost had a winning record in the Cactus League, what with a 15-16-1 finish. Too bad it doesn’t matter.
But they ended up losing their last five games, six if you include the Spring Breakout game. Good thing it doesn’t matter.
Of course, their big hullabaloo this season is about “momentum,” and that momentum isn’t necessarily the kind they want. So maybe momentum doesn’t matter, either, except maybe as a PR gimmick.
Everyone knows Spring Training records are meaningless, whether for such badness as the Mariners being last in the Cactus League last year or next-to-last this year, or the goodness of the Rockies sporting a 15-14-1 record this year. True, the 2024 White Sox gave a sad foreshadowing of the regular season to come by finishing last in the spring as well, but the 2005 World Champs were next to third from last in Arizona with a 14-18 record, so things can really turn around once it counts.
But what about individual performances? After all, we do talk about how a solid spring could get somebody a spot on a major league roster.
Well, maybe not so much meaning there, either.
White Sox spring 2025 leaders provide a look at carryover accuracy
On the hitting side, Chicago’s big leader, with an astounding 1.352 OPS, was none other than (pause for dramatic effect) Adam Hackenberg! Yep, Adam Hackenberg, who went on to spend the regular season in Charlotte and Birmingham, and hit a combined .206. Now, the folks who keep track of spring stats tend to divide the line at 20 at-bats, and Hackenberg’s 12 wouldn’t make the cut, nor would Kyle Teel’s 1.119 OPS in 19 at-bats or William Bergolla Jr.‘s 1.167 in 12.
With the cutoff applied, the immortal Brandon Drury leads the 2025 White Sox with a staggering 1.260 OPS. Yep, Brandon Drury, who went on to a regular season where he hit .179 in 10 games in Charlotte before being released and then signed by the Angels, where he worked his way down to rookie league level.
A one-off, perhaps? Well, next was the .989 of Nick Maton, who then hit .167 in Chicago and .192 in Charlotte before being released. Maton was followed by Tristan Gray (.978), who actually hit a solid .270/.333/.472 in Charlotte before the team sold him to the Rays, where he posted a respectable .693 OPS for a middle infielder.
(As an aside, OPS tends to be the favorite stat of evaluation for hitters these days, but it’s unfair to singles hitters, who could post a .300 average and next-to-Aaron Judge .400 on-base percentage and still come in at a below-average .700, despite the very important Moneyball belief that what really matters is getting on base.)
The top performance among any batter who actually started for the White Sox was the fine .966 of Luis Robert Jr. We all know how that went.
By far the best pitcher for the White Sox in 2025 was Adrian Houser, who wasn’t with the team until May. Of those who were around in Arizona, there’s more correlation with the games that count than with hitters, but not anything close to a clear picture.
Martín Pérez sported a fine 2.25 ERA over 12 innings and pitched well once it counted until he got injured (yeah, yeah, ERA isn’t a great stat in a small sample size, but you go with what you’ve got). Shane Smith just went up from 3.37 to 3.81.
But three 0.00 ERAs topped the guys who did the best — Cam Booser (regular season 5.52), Penn Murfee (7.82), and the guy who we don’t talk about (minors). Justin Dunn had a 1.13, then a 7.63 in Charlotte before being released, and was even worse for Royals affiliates. Davis Martin had a 1.90, less than half his regular-season number, which was okay. Jonathan Cannon’s 10.32 showed he was already in trouble.
But that’s ancient history, the Sox have momentum now!
Okay, so here’s the 2026 story:
Most importantly, none other than Adam Hackenberg was back for another try, and once again he led the team!! Batted a perfect 1.000. Okay, it was only one at-bat, but that’s not his fault.
Of those with more than 20 official trips this year, the leader was Oliver Dunn, with a 1.128 OPS on a .296/.387/.741 slash line. Of course, he won’t be on the regular season roster, so Austin Hays tops those who will, at 1.056, followed by Luisangel Acuña at 1.004. One can only hope there is some carryover to games that count.
Of note is that among the top Sox hitters this spring is Korey Lee, .289/.426/.526, so naturally he’s being dumped in favor of Reese McGuire for reasons only the incredible White Sox brain trust is smart enough to comprehend.
Chase Meidroth and the various competitors for the fifth outfield spot hit it pretty well. Hitting better than expected were Lenyn Sosa and Andrew Benintendi (though Benintendi K’ed one-third of the time), with Munetaka Murakami doing fine, especially in only K’ing eight times in 29 at-bats, not including WBC time. Edgar Quero did fine, as did prospects William Bergolla Jr., Braden Montgomery, and (especially) Sam Antonacci.
On the uh-oh side, Colson Montgomery whiffed 20 times in 55 at-bats and only walked three times. He did hit three homers, but only had — this is amazingly bad — four RBIs. Final line .182/.224/.345, about where he was a year ago in Charlotte, that had him seemingly heading toward a career in coaching high school ball, until a couple of weeks back in Arizona straightened him out. This time, he’s already in Arizona, so who knows where he’ll have to head.
All in all, early in the spring, when the Sox were winning, they were doing a whole bunch of scoring when it was late in the game, and our-NRIs-vs-your-NRIs. Later, not so much.
Better not to ask. Let’s just say the sample size is too small and not mention how bad Shane Smith and Anthony Kay looked last time out. The rest of the starters were at least middling, as were many relievers except theoretical-star-of-the-future Grant Taylor and theoretical-star-of-the-now Sean Newcomb.
There is a stat that shows the level of opposition a player faced in the spring; the Baseball-Reference.com version gives 10 points if the batter or pitcher faced was in the majors in 2025, eight if in Triple-A, seven if in Double-A, and so on down the line. Unfortunately, it’s a stat with a problem, since particularly early in the spring, minor league pitchers trying to move up in the ranks are going to be firing their very best stuff unless specifically told not to, and major leaguers secure in their jobs may well experiment with a new pitch or grip or arm angle and work on their worst stuff, not their best. Remember when Jake Peavy went an entire spring start, throwing nothing but change-ups?
So best to look back at the top. Nothing so far matters except Kyle Teel and Mike Vasil getting hurt, especially Vasil, since he’ll be gone into 2027. Not the at-least-mediocre record, alas. But not any bad performances, either.
Let the stuff that goes on their permanent record begin!