GLENDALE, Ariz. -- He may not know what caused the struggles that dominated the early portion of his 2015 campaign, but Adam Eaton realizes what they can be.
Overall, the White Sox outfielder is pleased with his performance from an individual standpoint. He’d prefer the White Sox would have finished with a winning record instead of sub-.500 mark for a third straight season.
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But Eaton’s also more than satisfied to have overcome an early season slump that left him drained. Eaton rebounded from his rough start and finished the year hitting .287/.361/.431 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs and 98 runs in 689 plate appearances. He’s hopeful that how he bounced back becomes a building block to lean on if he ever falls into another lengthy slump.
“I don’t know if I got away from myself,” Eaton said. “To be honest with you, I think I had the same approach. It just wasn’t working out. I had to truly buy into knowing what it was. It wasn’t fun for me. I talked to Paul (Konerko) this offseason and he told me, he said, ‘You know, you’ll look back at that month of your career and really see it as a stepping stone.’ And I truly believe that.”
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Eaton, who had signed a five-year extension last spring, got off to a miserable start. Through April, Eaton hit .192/.241/.256 with no RBIs in 83 plate appearances. In the midst of a road trip, Eaton got so sick with the flu that the White Sox sent him home for three days. But from that point on, Eaton had an .834 OPS over his final 134 games.
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“I hope to have a long career, but I hope that I can lean back on that month, whatever year it may be when I struggle early on,” Eaton said. “Hopefully, I can lean back on that and learn from it and maybe get out of it a little earlier.”