The Chicago White Sox should take a chance on this interesting outfielder

The Chicago White Sox have been on the lookout all season to acquire talent on the fringes of other teams’ rosters, who could hopefully help them at the Trade Deadline or beyond. Most of the players the White Sox acquired came through waiver claims and minor league signings, which have not panned out, with outfielder Joshua Palcios being the most recent player to be designated for assignment.

Vinny Capra has been the only player to remain on the roster through the constant roster fluctuations, and he could likely stay on the roster until the Trade Deadline. The waiver wire recently got another interesting player who could help the White Sox this season, and if given some playing time, he could help them in a trade down the line.

The waiver wire just got an interesting outfielder

The Braves have been one of the surprising disappointments this season, sitting 11.0 games back from the lead in the National League East. The Braves’ outfield situation has been in a constant state of change this season, with Ronald Acuña Jr. missing the beginning of this season as he was still recovering from his ACL tear from last season.

The Braves finally got Acuña back in May, and finally got rightfield locked down after mixing and matching different players to fill in for him. Their leftfield situation has been a different story, as they’ve deployed a platoon situation there since their top free agent signing, Jurickson Profar, got suspended for PED use.

One of those players in that mix whom the Braves tried out was outfielder José Azócar, who only played in two games with the Braves. The Braves had designated Azócar for assignment, and according to MLB Trade Rumors, Azócar had elected to become a free agent instead of accepting his assignment to the minor leagues.

The Chicago White Sox should claim Azócar from the Atlanta Braves

Azócar is a 29-year-old outfielder from Guiria, Venezuela, and has spent four seasons in the big leagues. Azócar, outside of appearing in the two games for the Braves, Azócar also played in 14 games for the New York Mets this season.

Azócar has never appeared in more than 100 games in a season and has only 228 big league games under his belt. In his career, Azócar is a .244 hitter, with a .290 on-base percentage, and an OPS and an OPS+ of .609 and 74.

The bright spot for Azócar is that he has been pretty good when given everyday at-bats down in the minor leagues, posting a career slash line of .279/.315/.384 for an OPS of .699. The White Sox could benefit from a player like Azócar, who would be an upgrade over someone like Capra, a career .122 hitter. If the White Sox wanted to stick with Capra, then someone like Michael A. Taylor could be on the chopping block, as he’s only hit .211 with an OPS of .644 this season.

Either way, Azócar would give the White Sox another potential piece to move at the deadline, as he could have success if given some time to play. Still younger than 30, Azócar still could prove to be something, and then the White Sox could be the team to benefit from him finding that something.