Sharing Sox Podcast 102 — Hanser me this, White Sox! — 2023-03-07

SSS duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son and current downtown Chicago correspondent, Will, delve into matters on and off the field, beginning with Will answering the survey the White Sox send out every spring about fan attitudes, after which the front office apparently deletes the answers without ever looking at them. Also in an off-the-field segment, the elephant in the room raises his trunk and blows a huge raspberry at the world, as MLB uses the old ruse of issuing its decision about Mike Clevinger on a Sunday afternoon so no one is available to take calls from reporters. The question now is how being forced to keep Clevinger on the team will impact the clubhouse, one which mild-mannered José Abreu recently said was already in total disarray last season, and not all because of the HOFBP. Then it’s on to actual baseball matters, including praise for Pedro Grifol for getting the team to work much harder, at least so far, and for the veteran non-roster invitees who are putting it all out to show they belong on the team. And Will relates the video where Sox pitchers speculate over which of their brethren will have the most trouble with a pitch clock. As for individual players, the preseason isn’t at the point yet where stats matter, but one has to take note that tied for the top batting average on the Sox are Eloy Jiménez and — get this — Hanser Alberto. Alberto has actually been a .272 hitter over his career, though only .244 last year, but there’s a piece of data that sure makes you wonder what Rick Hahn was thinking when he signed him to a minor league contract. That’s because Alberto has some of the biggest platoon splits you’ll see, clobbering lefties and clueless against righties. And he considers it unmanly to take a walk. Ever. Maybe Hahn forgot which kind of pitchers the White Sox already hit really well and how they were 29th in MLB in walks last year. Seem to be the kind of things that tend to slip his mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices