DETROIT — Andrew Benintendi is already looking forward to the offseason.
Join the club!
But not just because the White Sox have been awful and want to get this season over with.
Benintendi underperformed in the first year of his five-year, $75 million deal — just ask him — and after taking the first couple of weeks in October off, he’ll get to work on his hitting.
“That’s all he’s talking about,” said Sox field coordinator Mike Tosar, who serves as one of the team’s hitting coaches.
“Mentally, he’s already gathering what he wants to do this offseason. Knowing his makeup and character, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go.”
Benintendi tripled in the fourth inning for the Sox’ first hit against the Tigers’ Sawyer Gipson-Long, who was making his major-league debut. He’s batting .269/.332/.368 with five home runs after a 3-2 loss that dropped the Sox to 55-88.
“It’s frustrating,” Benintendi told the Sun-Times. “This whole season has been frustrating overall. Disappointed in how I played. I never really got hot, and I was fighting through some things during the season. You always want to do better.”
Benintendi received a cortisone shot around the All-Star break for a sore right hand. He made a few swing changes this season and changed his approach.
“Just never really got going,” he said.
Transitioning from spacious Kauffman Stadium, where the left-handed Benintendi played for the Royals in 2021 and 2022, to cozier Guaranteed Rate Field was a thing.
“For a player like me, the full shift on last year, I wasn’t really focused on pulling the ball but just going the other way and beating the shift and hitting for a higher average and on-base [percentage],” Benintendi said. “Now I’m playing at Guaranteed Rate and able to drive it out there a couple more times, trying to get the ball to the pull side a little more.”
Benintendi has three seasons with 16 or more homers. He hit his first for the Sox on June 16.
“It’s going to take time,’’ he said. ‘‘Two years of going the other way, so it’s trying to get back to that, and it can take time. Hopefully, that’s next year.”
Hopefully, the Sox’ front office injects some fresh talent into the clubhouse.
“A lot is out of our control as players,” Benintendi said. “This team is super-talented, and obviously there is room to get better. As a player, you work on being the best you can be, and whatever happens from there happens.
‘‘We were disappointing as a team. We’re all disappointed. There’s a lot of ground to make up. I don’t think anybody in here saw this coming.”
Benintendi, 29, keeps his head down and prefers staying in the background. Of the Sox’ clubhouse rifts exposed during the first half, he would only say, “Everybody wants to win. Obviously, it’s a long year. You pull for everybody, and it’s going to take everybody to win. As far as the clubhouse goes, everybody gets along. There is no butting heads, but when you’re not playing well, things kind of tumble. We didn’t get in front of that this year.”
Benintendi plans to get in front of his swing this offseason.
“Early in the year, he was [making contact with] the ball a little too deep,” Tosar said. “He’s found his contact point. He set his hands in a place where it’s easy for him to turn and get to the contact point he’s looking to get to. Now he’s trying to get a little more bat speed through the zone, more whip from the position he’s starting from and maintaining with his swing.
“It’s something he had always done, but lost a feel for but is getting back to it. Can he get it back? One hundred percent.”
ROYALS AT SOX
Monday: Brady Singer (8-10, 5.34 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (6-7, 4.98), 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM.
Tuesday: Jordan Lyles (4-16, 6.24) vs. Touki Toussaint (3-7, 4.71), 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM.
Wednesday: TBA vs. Mike Clevinger (7-7, 3.64), 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM.
