How Chicago White Sox can shock baseball, make playoffs

Avisail Garcia must keep up All-Star performance

Of all the young standouts in the Chicago White Sox, legendary play-by-play man Hawk Harrelson apparently is more excited for Garcia’s future than anyone else’s. In his mind, the young right fielder could have a special year in 2018.

From Jon Greenberg of The Athletic:

"…in classic Hawk form, when I asked him if he were excited about seeing Eloy Jimenez debut this season, he digressed to hype a veteran player. “I tell you what, I want to see that,” he said. “I also want to see, I’ve predicted that Avi [Garcia], in the next two years, is going to win the MVP. That’s how good he can be.”"

On one hand, that’s absolutely true Hawk form: why pump up the obviously exciting prospect when you can hype a veteran?

At the same time, the Chicago White Sox will need something along those lines if they want to keep pace in the AL Central.

Currently, 2018 ZiPS projections on FanGraphs expect Garcia’s average to drop to .281 (down from .330 in 2017). However, the home run and RBI totals are expected to be roughly the same (17 home runs, 75 RBI in 2018 vs. 18 home runs, 80 RBI in 2017).

With any luck, though, Garcia can keep his average somewhere in the .290-.310 range and up his power totals. He has always had the ability to hit 20-30 home runs but simply hasn’t fully found his power. As this team starts inching toward contention, now’s the time to make that happen.

And if the Sox want to shock people this year, 30+ doubles, 20+ home runs and 100+ RBI have to happen. Let’s see what he’s got.