Why does the White Sox’s top brass keep getting injured? A look into their tortured injury history
The trio of Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jiménez and Yoán Moncada have played in just 28.9% of possible games together
In this era of White Sox baseball, the team appears to be a phenomenon of sports medicine in the way they keep landing on the injury list.
And already this season — 12 games in — the White Sox’s top brass of Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jiménez and Yoán Moncada have all landed on the injured list in nine days.
What’s more, they all got there by running to first base. Neither three injuries was provoked by contact. Robert Jr. strained his right hip flexor rounding first base; Jiménez injured his adductor on his way to first; Moncada strained his adductor and collapsed on his way to first base.
But the motif of injuries isn’t new in the White Sox’s saga. In 557 possible games (since 2020) of those three players taking the field together, they’ve only done so in 161 games. They’ve played just 28.9% of possible games together due to injuries.
Both Robert Jr. and Jiménez have tortured injury histories. In his first five major league seasons, Robert Jr. missed series of games for 16 separate injuries. For Jiménez, in his first six seasons — 22 different injuries.
And it doesn’t stop there, either. Tim Anderson missed considerable time in 2022, playing 79 games. Yasmani Grandal played just 99 games that year, too. Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet have both needed Tommy John surgery — a frequent necessity for modern-day MLB pitchers — during separate instances, but with the White Sox.
The White Sox have seen turnover in their training room, hiring/firing different training staff amid their injury troubles. But even to this day, with most of the White Sox’s contending core not in Chicago, they’re still enduring injuries.
