SEATTLE — Left fielder Andrew Benintendi is well aware he signed the richest contract in White Sox -history. He also knows he hasn’t lived up to it during his first 2½ months in a Sox uniform.
So don’t try suggesting his defense, .265 average and .337 on-base percentage going into Friday’s game should leave him feeling OK about his -production.
“Personally, no,” Benintendi told the Sun-Times. “I’ve been frustrated pretty much all year just trying to find something — to get going into any kind of groove, which I feel I haven’t been in one time this year. Just show up, keep playing.”
Signed to a five-year, $75 million free-agent deal last offseason, Benintendi now has an average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS all below his career norms. But here’s the thing: His right hand is sore. And it was bothering him before a pitch hit him on the hand Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Baseball can be a cruel game.
An injection in the coming weeks to -alleviate the soreness, perhaps around the All-Star break, was being considered before Benintendi got hit by the pitch.
The hands are the hitter’s most valuable tool.
“Definitely plays a big part in the swing,” Benintendi said. “Whenever you have something wrong with your hands, it can affect a lot of other things, and you might compensate for it.
“But nobody in here feels 100%,” he continued, looking around the Sox clubhouse. “There are certain injuries that you kind of just deal with until it gets better. You just manage the pain.’’
Benintendi suffered a broken hook of his right hamate bone with the Yankees last September and had season-ending surgery. He suspects scar tissue could be at play.
“With what I’m going through now, it’s a situation where I can probably get something done and miss a few games,” he said. “Or just play through it. It’s been like that for a while now.”
Benintendi had not hit a home run this season until he broke a tie with a solo to right center against Bryan Woo in the Sox’ 3-2 loss to the Mariners Friday, and he had tired of hearing about it. Former Red Sox teammate and friend Brock Holt teased Benintendi — who hit 20 for the Red Sox in 2017 and 17 for the Royals in 2021 — about the drought on social media.
“I think it’s hilarious,” Benintendi said before the game. “I’m not a big home-run guy anyway. My slug and power has taken a little hit because of the stuff I’m playing through.”
Sox manager Pedro Grifol is effusive in his defense of Benintendi’s play.
“My God,” Grifol said. “Every day I hear stuff about he hasn’t hit a home run yet. You know what, the guy’s probably at 50%. He gets hit in the hand that’s hurt. He stays in the game because he wants to play defense. He has to take an at-bat late in the game. He tries to bunt because his hand, he’s in pain. He sucks it up and gets a base hit down the line. You think I’m going to give a [crap] about a home run? I don’t really care.
“I care about what he did for this ballclub. He didn’t want to come out of the game because he wanted to give us -defense.”
Grifol said he gave Benintendi a day off Thursday but Benintendi fought him on it. He pinch-ran and went in for defense, though. He was back in the starting lineup Friday against the Mariners.
“All it takes is one swing, one click to get going,” Benintendi said. “I’m searching for that.”
