What is Gavin Sheets?

There is not a person on this planet I talk more baseball with than my brother BeefLoaf. Not only do we have a podcast together, we sit next to each other at the Rate, and we’re in near-constant communication throughout the day. Recently, we were discussing what the White Sox should do with Eloy Jimenez‘s 140 or so plate appearances that he’ll miss in the coming weeks. While I wanted to provide some creative outside the box ideas, the answer to me was simple: play Gavin Sheets every day.

Beef even discussed this a bit on the Mid Show this past week:

This is not an endorsement of Gavin Sheets as the next great White Sox first baseman, but rather that I continue to be perplexed by the question: What role can Gavin Sheets play for the White Sox?

Gavin’s first 3 years in the bigs provided 933 plate appearances in which he produced a 90 WRC+ or 10% below league average at creating runs for your team. Now, his atrocious 344 PAs last year contribute to him being below average as his OPS slipped to .599. If you’re unfamiliar with the stat, that’s right around where Andrew Vaughn is sitting this year, so bad.

This year, I assumed there would be a bit of a bounce back from last year, but still in the sub-par range. But Gavin came out firing this year with an .841 OPS in March/April. His May has seen him come down to earth a bit, though his WRC+ remains a healthy 118. His bases clearing triple yesterday definitely had me on my feet at the old ballyard.

Gavin Sheets Triple

It’s worth mentioning it came off of a left handed pitcher. Gavin has had limited PAs (108) against lefties and for good reason in his first couple two tree years. But should he get more reps against them?

The more I think about Sheets, the more apparent it is that I just don’t know what he is yet. Is he a strong side 1B platoon player? Can he get on base enough to be a Brandon Belt type that is 1B/DH but is willing to play the OF when necessary? Is he a lefty bench bat? Is he a AAAA player? Will he grow a killer stache like his dad?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but Chris Getz has the opportunity to find out. He needs to do that because Gavin don’t get cheaper as his arb years roll in. What do you think Gavin Sheets is?

-Chorizy-E