Oscar Colas Is Forcing The White Sox Hand For Starting Job
It’s important to take Spring Training results with a grain of salt. But it’s hard not to get excited about what Oscar Colas has been doing in his first action wearing a White Sox uniform. Colas is forcing the front office’s hand. There is no reason he shouldn’t be starting in right field on Opening Day.
Colas has been hitting everything in sight and has shown he isn’t afraid to hit it to the opposite field. In his first 21 at-bats, he is hitting .429 with a .931 OPS. Colas’ nine hits are tied for the third most in MLB Training, entering Wednesday’s slate of games. He has even flashed the ability to swipe a base occasionally, which will fit nicely under Pedro Grifol’s aggressive baserunning approach.
“I feel comfortable stealing,” Colas told MLB.com. “The past couple of years, I didn’t have the chance to do it often. But ever since I came here, the manager told me, ‘You have good legs. Good speed. We want you to run.’ They’ve been giving me a chance, and I’ve been taking advantage of it.”
Outside of a minor hiccup in right field where he collided with part of the wall that juts out in foul territory, he has done everything the White Sox could ask from a rookie. He isn’t just producing against pitchers that will be bagging groceries in a couple of weeks, either. On Tuesday, he put together an excellent six-pitch at-bat against Corbin Burnes, which resulted in a walk. The 24-year-old showed tremendous plate discipline by not chasing anything from the former Cy Young winner 2-2 threw with a 2-2 count. In his next plate appearance against Burnes he slashed a single to right field.
Make no mistake; the 24-year-old will go through some growing pains in the MLB. Pitchers are going to adjust to the White Sox’s No. 2 overall prospect. When they do, he will have to learn how to respond. The players around him will also need to step up on the offensive end to alleviate some of this pressure. All these issues come with the territory when you lean on a rookie to be a vital piece of a team with championship aspirations.
The White Sox brought in a handful of right-field options to plug in play in right just in case Colas needed more seasoning in Triple-A. But Rick Hahn made it clear this offseason that it’s Colas’s job to lose. He didn’t acquire any upgrades in right field with the hopes that Colas would tap into the potential he showed in 2022. His 23 home runs in the minor leagues last season add to the intrigue of Colas as the everyday right fielder. The early returns have reinforced Hahn’s faith in him.
Colas arrives early, soaks in knowledge from the veteran players Tim Anderson, Hanser Alberto, Yasmani Grandal, and Elvis Andrus, who surround his locker, and is a hard worker.
Even his teammates are giving him rave reviews.
“We all know his power, but I think he’s being a hitter right now, which I love,” Elvis Andrus told Chuck Garfein during a mid-game interview on NBC Sports Chicago. “I think it’s very hard, when you’re that young, for him knowing he’s got an opportunity to train at camp with us. And he’s not panicking.”
There is plenty of time left in Spring Training, so the competition is still ongoing. They will never say it publicly, but the front office wants Colas to win the job. Eloy Jimenez is adamant that he can be the team’s right fielder. The team would prefer if he spent most of the time as a designated hitter. Colas is making it much easier for that to happen. If he keeps it up, Pedro Grifol will have no choice but to pencil him in as the right fielder on March 30th.