Sam

Antonacci

Antonacci went 2-for-5 with his first career home run, which was of the inside-the-park variety, during Tuesday’s win over Arizona. The 23-year-old contact-oriented rookie has gone 4-for-21 with just one strikeout in six games since being called up from Triple-A last week. Tanner Murray is in left field on Wednesday night with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez toeing the rubber for the Diamondbacks.

Antonacci put his speed on display against the D-backs on Tuesday, starting with an RBI triple deep off the center field wall in the first inning. He later hit one down the left-field line in the ninth inning and touched them all for an inside-the-park home run. While not conventional, he gets credit for his first career round-tripper. The 23-year-old is 4-for-21 at the plate so far with just one strikeout.

Antonacci makes his third consecutive start in left field after spending his big-league debut at second base earlier this week. The contact-oriented 23-year-old rookie has gone 1-for-10 with a pair of walks in three games since being called up. Amazingly, he hasn’t struck out during that span. He’ll likely face an adjustment period, like most top prospects, as he gets used to everyday life in the big leagues. However, his extensive minor league track record suggests he’s going to start hitting and be an impactful fantasy contributor in deeper mixed leagues this season.

Antonacci made the transition to left field look fairly seamless at Triple-A Charlotte this season, but he’ll make his big-league debut at his natural defensive home, while also batting in the middle of Chicago’s lineup. The versatile 23-year-old has flashed some emerging over-the-fence power over the last few weeks, batting .313 (15-for-48) with two homers and five steals in 14 games on the doorstep of the majors. He boasts some of the strongest plate skills in the minors, which should help ease his transition to the big leagues. He’s at least worthy of a speculative roster spot in all fantasy formats.

It was reported last week that Antonacci was going to be promoted, and then he wasn’t, but now he is again. The 23-year-old was moved to the outfield this season to expedite his path to the big leagues and has hit .313/.500/.479 with two home runs, seven RBI, and five steals in 14 games at Triple-A. He has just a 29 percent hard-hit rate this season with just a 22 percent fly ball rate, so don’t expect too much power production right away. However, he has a tremendous feel for the strike zone, good contact ability, and posted 48 steals last season, so there could be tons of batting average and speed value here. Just remember that he doesn’t play for a great team, so the counting stats may also leave a little to be desired.

Sosa, 26, was the White Sox’s leader with 22 homers and 75 RBI last season, but that came with a 127/18 K/BB ratio and a .293 OBP. Between the OBP issues and his lack of defensive value, he just hasn’t been a very valuable major leaguer to date (Baseball-Reference has him at -1.2 WAR through 1,155 plate appearances). Maybe the Jays will get more out of him. He can serve as another DH option while George Springer is out and maybe see some time at second base against lefties. The White Sox, who had started Sosa in eight of their 16 games, seemingly just wanted to move on here, as Rich is a 2025 17th-round pick who has yet to play in a professional game. Perhaps Sam Antonacci will fill the open roster spot.

There was a report from Noah Phalen of Sox Showdown on Sunday morning that Antonacci would be recalled along with top pitching prospect Noah Schultz on Tuesday, but it appears that’s not a guarantee just yet. Either way, the versatile 23-year-old is off to an outstanding start at the Triple-A level and should get a shot with the White Sox before long, even if it’s not during the upcoming week.

Antonacci has been seeing time in the outfield at the Triple-A level and could potentially step right into an everyday role there for the White Sox. The 23-year-old has hit .317/.509/.488 with two homers, six RBI, four stolen bases and a remarkable 6/14 K/BB ratio through his first 12 games this season. He’ll immediately make for an intriguing addition in deeper mixed leagues.

The 23-year-old is off to a strong start, going 8-for-24 (.333) with two home runs, four RBI, and four steals in six games. He also has an impressive six walks to just two strikeouts. With Brooks Baldwin (elbow) on the injured list, the White Sox have a hole in the outfield, and Antonacci has played five games in left field to begin this season. He could be an intruiging name in deeper fantasy formats if he gets a call-up.

Antonacci took Tanner Bibee deep in the first inning. The 23-year-old was outstanding in the Arizona Fall League as well, and his plate skills give him a chance of making a debut with the White Sox in 2026. It’s hard to see fantasy-relevancy in 2026, however.