White Sox ‘Core Four' dominating September with sights set on 2020

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For White Sox fans who have grown weary during the rebuild, suffering through the losses, waiting for the good times to come, a group of hitters has followed the lead of a certain clubhouse commander who has delivered a simple message:

The future is now.

While another losing season has arrived on the South Side, this core collection of White Sox players representing the future has heeded the words of first baseman Jose Abreu by crushing opposing pitchers this month as if next season is already here.

“The 2020 season, it starts in September,” Abreu said on Aug. 30.

Take a look at the numbers being put up by Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson this month, and you can conclude that they all got the message.

Entering Tuesday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians, Moncada ranked first in the majors in hits in September, with Jimenez and Anderson tied for second.

“We’re trying to start the winning process,” Abreu explained through team interpreter Billy Russo. “I think we’ve seen that in this month, even though the record is not that good, we all know that playing at our best is going to be something that we’ll be able to carry into next season and we’ll be a winning team then. That’s why we are all trying to finish as strong as we can, to carry that momentum into next season.”

Tuesday’s blowout loss at the hands of Mike Clevinger and the Indians might have slowed down that momentum for a night, but Abreu’s September wake-up call has registered with the young White Sox trio.

“I agree with him, because in order for us to be good next season we need to start right now,”  Moncada said. “We’re planning on being very good next season. Not just to be playing until September, but hopefully into October and beyond.”

Before September began, Abreu sat down with Jimenez to explain his mission. How important this month would be, not only for the White Sox rookie, but for the team and the future.

“I’m always talking to him about winning, having a winning mentality, how we need to correct ourselves to put us in a position to win. He has been very receptive with that,” Abreu said of Jimenez. “All the talent he has, all the attention for him to get to the 30-homer mark. I talked to him about this process and the things that we need to do.”

At the start of the month, Jimenez was eight home runs shy of reaching 30 for the season. No easy feat. That is, unless you’re Jimenez, who somehow made it look that way. The rookie phenom homered twice on Sept. 3 against two of the Indians’ best pitchers, Clevinger and Carlos Carrasco. He cranked grand slams against both the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers. And Sunday, he arrived at the 30-home-run mark in Detroit — with seven games still to play.

“When he hit home run No. 30, I was as happy as he was, or even more,” a smiling Abreu said.

When I asked Indians manager Terry Francona on Tuesday about the White Sox young core, he wasn’t smiling like Abreu. The Cleveland skipper said he didn’t feel comfortable evaluating other teams’ players, but he was willing to admit he was still feeling the effects of what Jimenez did to his pitchers earlier this month.

“The last time Jimenez came into Cleveland, he hit every ball hard. Even the outs were hard,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Man, uncle!’”

While Rick Hahn and the front office will spend the offseason looking to improve the offense (particularly from the left side of the plate), Abreu, Moncada, Anderson and Jimenez have created a “Core Four” that has taken off since Rick Renteria started batting them all together in the White Sox lineup.

“I think it’s one of our strengths as an offense. We’re hitting behind each other,” Moncada said. “It’s going to be a very tough part of the order for the other teams, because we already know what we’re capable of doing and I think everyone around the league is getting to know that right now.

“We’re just going to keep improving. We’re going to be even more dangerous for everybody.”

Even before he hit .424 in his first 21 games in September, it was an incredible breakthrough season for Moncada, who after facing harsh criticism for his .235 batting average and 217 strikeouts in 2018, is the only American League player in 2019 to own a .300 average with 30-plus doubles, 20-plus homers, 75-plus RBIs and 10-plus stolen bases.

"I feel very satisfied with the season I'm having, but at the same time, it's not a fluke,” Moncada said about 2019. “I'm having the season that I'm having because I worked hard, and I still know that I can do more. I think this season is just a big takeoff for me and a big motivation.”

And he wants to be even better next season, in two categories, specifically.

“Steal more bases. That was one of the things I couldn’t do this year because of injury. Hit more homers. I would say those two things, but especially steal more bases,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anderson’s chances of winning the AL batting title — as crazy as that would have sounded in March — increase by the day. Tuesday, he went 1-for-3, keeping his average at .334 and ahead of the New York Yankees’ D.J. LeMahieu, who’s at .328.

Like Abreu, he sees the potential of this potent group of hitters and wants the veteran who called for this September push to be here when they resume play next season.

“We’ve been dangerous, very dangerous. We’ve been setting the bar really well,” Anderson said. “I think (Abreu) said it best. We’re going to continue to work, and I hope Pito is going to be a part of this. I think he deserves it. He’s been here even before me. I think it’s only right that he’s here to the end.”

Abreu famously said for him to return in 2020 he would sign himself. Hopefully, what this group has done in September is a sign of things to come.

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