White Sox were mixed bag in 2019

There was a lot to love about the 2019 White Sox. And there was a lot to make you turn away.

In many ways, shortstop Tim Anderson captured the essence of a 72-89 team by making a 95-point leap from 2018 and leading the majors with a .335 batting average.

He also led the majors with 26 errors in 122 games.

The same thumbs-up/thumbs-down gesture can be made for left fielder Eloy Jimenez, who led American League rookies with 31 home runs and finished strong with a .340/.383/.710 hitting line in September. He had nine homers, eight doubles and 25 RBI in the last month of the season and earned the AL Rookie of the Month honor Monday.

But Jimenez’s defense left a lot to be desired, and by going on the disabled list twice — once after crashing into the wall chasing a ball that sailed well over it — he stayed true to his minor-league health history.

So it goes with the young and talented. Ceilings are high, expectations are created, dreams are dreamed, lessons are learned and fingers are crossed.

There was a lot of that when Yoan Moncada led the majors with 217 strikeouts last season. Moncada flashed the tools that had made him the No. 1 prospect in baseball while putting up good, but not great, numbers.

This season, Moncada eased everyone’s concerns by trimming 63 strikeouts off that total and batting .315/.367/.548 with 25 homers, 34 doubles and 79 RBI. He also transitioned well from second base to third base.

Anderson led the majors in hitting and first baseman Jose Abreu led the AL in RBI, but Moncada, who was third in the AL in batting average, led Sox hitters in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. In short, he was the Sox’ best all-around player in 2019.

But back to more good news, bad news. Catcher James McCann, while grading well for handling the pitching staff and throwing, had an All-Star first half but batted .226/.281/.413 in the second half, despite posting nine homers and 30 RBI in each half.

On the pitching side, right-hander Lucas Giolito went from being the worst starter in the majors last season to a possible top-five finisher in AL Cy Young Award voting, but other starters moved the needle for a rotation that needed 41 combined starts from Dylan Covey, Ross Detwiler, Manny Banuelos, Odrisamer Despaigne, Ervin Santana, Carson Fulmer and Hector Santiago.

Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez had two or three of the Sox’ most dominant starts of the season, including his last one, and several of their worst. His 5.38 ERA ranked 60th among 61 qualifying pitchers in the AL.

Elbow injuries to right-hander Michael Kopech and left-hander Carlos Rodon exposed a shortage of depth, and when top prospect Dylan Cease was promoted from Class AAA Charlotte, he showed hints of promise but compiled a 5.79 ERA in 14 starts.

The bullpen, while trumpeted as a strength on the backs of left-hander Aaron Bummer and right-handers Alex Colome, Evan Marshall and Jimmy Cordero, ranked 14th in the majors in ERA (4.31), 21st in WHIP (1.40) and 29th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.48).

A pitching staff that ranked among the bottom third in the majors in strikeouts per nine innings would have been better served by a better defense behind it, but the Sox committed the fourth-most errors in the majors with 111 and finished 25th in defensive runs saved.

When it all shook out, it added up to 17 games below .500.

‘‘We still have to improve,’’ manager Rick Renteria said at the end of the third season of the Sox’ rebuild. ‘‘I know there are things that we will hammer away at, both individually and collectively. But our future’s bright. And it’s now. It’s time for us to now take the next step. I don’t want to be on the [negative] side of wins and losses anymore.’’