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White Sox’s 2B battle: Johnson is the front-runner

By Brody Hilgenkamp

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Earlier this offseason, I wrote about several White Sox prospects who were likely to make an impact in the big leagues in 2015. Carlos Rodon was an obvious one, but he will start the season at Triple-A (the move is not official, yet) so the team can delay salary arbitration and free agency by a year—why does that sound familiar?

The next significant domino to fall deals with second base. The White Sox have a pair of second baseman who are poised to make an impact in 2015. Micah Johnson and Carlos Sanchez are the two youngsters, and from the start of Spring Training they were in a battle to win the starting job.

Initially, it appeared that Sanchez would get the nod. Sanchez had played two full seasons at Triple-A and made significant improvements with his bat from 2013 to 2014. He’d also played a solid 28 games in the majors, while Johnson played a total of a mere 65 games above Double-A.

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Both players have played extremely well this spring. Johnson has hit .347/.396/.490 with four extra base hits and three stolen bases, and Sanchez has hit .355/.429/.355. Even though they’ve both hit the ball extremely well, Johnson has leapfrogged Sanchez. The White Sox went out of their way to give Johnson more at-bats—he has 49 at bats entering play Tuesday, while Sanchez has 31—and if you look at their slash lines mentioned above, there is a notable difference in power numbers. That’s because Sanchez doesn’t have an extra hit this spring.

Don’t be surprised if both players don’t start in the minors for the same reasons as Rodon. Gordon Beckham or Emilio Bonifacio could hold the position until enough time has transpired to make it safe to bring either player up. Still, with Johnson’s extra pop and speed on the base paths (he’s stolen 80 bases in a Minor League season) that is most likely not the case.

Most likely, Beckham will shift to the left side of the infield and the aging Bonifacio will become the team’s super-utility player with the versatility to play outfield and infield. Johnson, now 24-years old, seems poised to be the Opening Day second baseman. He will hit at the bottom of a lineup with a lot of potential in the middle of the order. Should he cause havoc on the base paths, he could make some noise in the American League Rookie of the Year voting come season’s end.

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