Best 3B for the White Sox?

The 2026 All-Star break came to an end. In the first half of the 2026 season, there are so many surprises. One surprise might be the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are now having a winning percentage over .500. But last season, they lost 102 games and their winning percentage was only .370. There are several key players who have performed well in the 2026 season.

For me, a key player that I’m following is Miguel Vargas. He used to play for the Dodgers before being traded to the White Sox. Vargas now has an OPS over .840. An OPS over .840 is pretty good for a player. While seeing Vargas’ performance so far this season, I’m just wondering if there are any third basemen from the White Sox who used to finish a season with an OPS over .850. To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great Fangraphs website.

Firstly, Eric Soderholm played for the White Sox from 1977 to 1979. He had a great season in 1977, slashing .280/.350/.500 with 25 home runs and 67 RBI in 130 games. He finished the season with an OPS of .850.

Moreover, Al Smith played for the White Sox from 1958 to 1962. In 1961, he played 147 games, hitting .278/.348/.506 with 28 home runs and 93 RBI. This season, his OPS was .854.

In addition, Robin Ventura is certainly an important player in the White Sox history. He played for the White Sox from 1989 to 1998. In those 10 seasons, he slashed .274/.365/.440 with 171 home runs and 741 RBI over 1254 games. In particular, there were 2 times that he finished a season with an OPS over .850. The first time was in 1995. Ventura hit .295/.384/.498 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI. In 1995, he owned an OPS of .882. The next season, he played 158 games for the White Sox, hitting .287/.368/.520 with 34 home runs and 105 RBI. In this great season, his OPS was .888.

Finally, let’s look at 2 third basemen who finished a season with an OPS over .900 in the White Sox uniform. Yoan Moncada played for the White Sox from 2017 to 2024. In 2019, he played 132 games, hitting .315/.367/.548 with 25 home runs and 79 RBI. He finished the season with an OPS of .915. During his time with the White Sox, there was only one time that he finished a season with an OPS over .800 and that was the 2019 season. Hall of Famer Minnie Minoso played for the White Sox for 12 seasons, hitting .304/.397/.468 with 135 home runs and 808 RBI over 1373 games. He played several positions for the White Sox. But in 1951, he spent a significant amount of his time at third base. In 1951, he slashed .324/.419/.498 with 10 home runs and 74 RBI over 138 games. This year, he owned a .917 OPS in the White Sox uniform.

As we can see, there are only 5 third basemen, who used to finish a season with an OPS over .850 in the White Sox uniform. This year, Miguel Vargas has a pretty good start in the 2026 season. Let’s see if he can hit consistently through the second half of the 2026 season and finish the season with an OPS of .850 or higher.