‘Hot as a pistol’: 3 standout numbers that led to prospect Lenyn Sosa’s promotion to the Chicago White Sox

Lenyn Sosa called his mother and father after finding out he was being promoted to the Chicago White Sox.

“They started crying,” the infielder told reporters through an interpreter Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The prospect made the jump from Double A to the big leagues earlier in the day.

The Sox were in immediate need of infield depth with Danny Mendick lost for the season after he tore the ACL in his right knee, an injury suffered Wednesday in an outfield collision with Adam Haseley. They’ve been without starting third baseman Yoán Moncada, who is on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Saturday with a strained right hamstring.

Starting second baseman Josh Harrison was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth of Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles and exited the next inning with a bruised right triceps. That led to Sosa’s debut.

Sosa struck out in his first major-league at-bat in the seventh and drew a walk in the ninth in an impressive nine-pitch plate appearance.

“(The) first time he punched out, but that second at-bat was clutch,” Sox manager Tony La Russa told reporters before Friday’s game against the Orioles. “It helped us prolong a rally. It was really good for him.”

Sosa had a .331/.384/.549 slash line in 62 games for Double-A Birmingham. He led the Southern League in several offensive categories, including batting average.

The 22-year-old, who is from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, entered 2022 ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the Sox system by Baseball America and at No. 22 according to MLB.com. He signed with the Sox as an international free agent on July 2, 2016.

“I know he’s been working hard and I know he’s been doing what he has to do in the minor leagues,” Sox catcher Seby Zavala told reporters after Thursday’s game. “He had a good at-bat in that last inning and hopefully can build off of it and have a long career.”

Here are three more numbers of note that led to Sosa’s promotion.

General manager Rick Hahn discussed Sosa earlier this month, saying he “has been hot as a pistol.”

The right-handed hitter was named Southern League Player of the Month for May after slashing .351/.388/.649 (39-for-111) with eight home runs, 26 RBIs and 22 runs in 26 games.

According to MiLB.com, Sosa’s 39 hits tied San Jose’s Vaun Brown for the most in minor-league baseball in the month. Sosa did so while having 11 multihit games, and he had a 16-game hitting streak from May 4–21.

Sosa led the league in runs, RBIs, total bases (72) and triples (two) in the month. He was second in home runs and slugging percentage, third in average and sixth in OPS (1.037).

Sosa began playing in the Sox organization in 2017. He has displayed more power with each season.

He had 11 home runs in 115 games in 2021 between Class A Winston-Salem (10) and Birmingham (1). He hit 14 in 62 games with the Barons this season, tied for fourth in the Southern League.

Asked if he knew he could hit for that type of power, Sosa said: “I wasn’t certain about that. But I worked a lot on that during the offseason, lifting weights, doing agility drills, trying to strengthen my body to be able to hit the ball harder.

“I’m not surprised with the results.”

Sosa’s .549 slugging percentage ranks third in the Southern League.

Sosa singled in the first inning of a May 20 game against the Rocket City Trash Pandas. It was the start of a very productive day that ended with four hits — three singles and a home run.

Sosa leads the Southern League with 85 hits, 48 RBIs and 47 runs.

Those totals added up to this opportunity with the big-league Sox.

“All the hard work that I’ve put in day in and day out since I started playing baseball has now come to fruition,” Sosa said.