White Leury

The White Sox haven’t even finished the de-facto first month of the season and because of that I usually hold off on trying to analyze too much of what’s going on in this blog. Podcast thoughts blow away with the wind, Blog thoughts are forever. But there is one thing that I feel pretty comfortable opining on and that is the usage of Brooks Baldwin aka White Leury aka Leury White aka (the more politically correct) The Albino Legend. He is your utility man!

The OG Leury Garcia

Leury Garcia played for the White Sox from 2013 thru 2022. In fact when the White Sox were in their last playoff run (which seems like forever ago), Leury aka The Legend was their most tenured player. He served primarily in utility role over the decade he put on a White Sox uniform. Sure there were years where he was hurt and years where he didn’t play that much, but there were also years like 2019, where he was a defacto regular with 618 Plate Appearances. Over that time, his innings were widely spread across the diamond.

The Legend spent no more than 32% of his time on the diamond in any spot and that main spot was Centerfield for an outfield starved White Sox team. However, he spent over 10% each of his defensive innings at 4 other positions, even chipping in a small amount at Third Base with a couple innings on the hill. If memory serves he was also the emergency catcher (although never pressed into service). Yes, Leury Garcia was the “Utility Guy” for his entire career. This defensive flexibility allowed for Garcia to have a career, including a career moment that is the last great White Sox playoff moment of memory.

The Birth of White Leury

While Leury Garcia passed (from being a White Sox, he’s alive and well) at the end of 2022, the idea of the Leury has never died. Fast forward to the second half of the White Sox record setting (bad) 2024 season and a low ranked prospect rocketed through the farm system all the way up to a July promotion and damn near immediate playing time, that man was Brooks Baldwin. The 2024 vintage of Baldwin was primarily used in a middle infield capacity, approximately 3 parts Second Baseman and 1 part Shortstop. However, the 2025 season has brought about a re-direction of his development path by Chris Getz and his regime, ENTER……WHITE LEURY!

In the 2025 season he flexes damn near equal innings at Second Base, Left Field and Right Field. White Leury also shares the trait of switch hitterism with original Leury Garcia aka Leroy. And it’s clear that this is an active choice to make him the utility man given the White Sox are giving the lion share of innings at Shortstop to Jacob Amaya, a glove only player (and not an elite one).

Personally, I applaud the choice of getting White Leury acclimated to his full-time job as soon as possible. They could’ve asked him to fake shortstop for a few months and potentially delay the development of being able to pick up a glove all over the field, but that wouldn’t have been as productive for him. It’s weird to be developing the utility man basically first out of your long-term position players, but (if) when the White Sox are actually good, I’d expect White Leury to be appearing all over the diamond for his damn near full-time role.

-BeefLoaf