White Sox fans have been clamoring for outfielder Daniel Palka to rejoin the team after he had won International League Batter of the Week in for AAA Charlotte recently and did so by crushing the pitching at that level. Palka has some serious power and when he connects, the ball can travel very far. However, what Sox fans don't see is how flawed Palka is as a player. Palka is not Major League material.
Some fans will immediately point out that he finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 and his 27 home runs and 67 runs batted in that he produced. However, that's not seeing the forest for the trees because there are a lot of underlying reasons why is not a good player.
First and foremost he was a 26 year old rookie, for a rebuilding ballclub. Most of the players on the Sox are unlikely to be with the team when they contend as right now they are just holding a spot for players who are currently developing in the minor leagues or for when the team wants to sign a big time free agent. Admittedly, the White Sox have also signed players in hope they get some value out of them and then trade them for prospects to build up the farm system, but how the Sox have done this rebuild has been a bit unorthodox, in a good way. However, back to Palka, he was just meant as player to hold a spot on the roster until they become contenders. There is the possibility that maybe his power would create some value and allow them to trade him to a contender, but if that was the case then other teams saw why he was a 26 year old rookie and decided to pass. To piggyback more on the age of his rookie season point, he was also placed on waivers by the Minnesota Twins after 2017 despite hitting .274 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs in 84 games in AAA. He had spent the season before between AA and AAA hitting .254 with 34 home runs and 90 RBIs, so one would think that he would have made his debut for September call ups for the Twins in 2017 especially since they were in contention for a Wild Card spot or would give him a chance in 2018. But there's a reason why he wasn't, they saw that he wasn't good enough. Oh and he started his professional career in 2013, a good player wouldn't take five years to make the Majors unless it was due to injuries, which in Palka's circumstance is not a factor.
His defense is absolutely atrocious too. He is a liability out in the field as he cannot throw well and does not track the ball well. He also just looks uncomfortable out there. The best position he can play is designated hitter. The reason why Palka was playing right field this season before his demotion was to hold a spot for when Micker Adolfo was ready to take the spot as Eloy Jimenez was manning left field. Left field is normally held for players who are the weakest fielders on most ballclubs, but the Sox are high on Jimenez and know he is not a great fielder so having Palka in right made more sense as Jimenez is the future and Palka is not. The Sox then made the right decision to send him down.
Then there is his hitting. This one in my opinion is the most important reason why he is not a Major Leaguer. First of all, he only hit .240 last year, which seems better than it actually tells. When Palka gets into certain situations, like with two strikes, he does not adjust. These are the best pitchers in baseball, you have to adjust in every single circumstance. But to give a simple statistic to show how he doesn't adjust, he only had a .294 on base percentage last season. Want another? How about the K/BB rate where he walked 30 times and struck out a whopping 153 times at the plate? And he had the highest strikeout percentage against left-handed pitchers at 41.0%. Oh and he hit roughly .200 against southpaws. Against right handers, it not much better with a 32.5% strikeout percentage. That really tells the tale. Now his one hit in 35 at bats to start 2019 might have had some bad luck involved, but it gives a roughly good idea of how overmatched he is by Major League pitching. You can see it every time he hits. And the times he manages to make contact? When it was thrown right down the middle of the plate, which he should connect on if he's a professional, but the point is that it's the only time he can. That being said though, there was a whole offseason for pitchers and coaches to review tape to go over Palka to see how to pitch to him in 2019. If I think he was predictable, oh then you better believe pitchers know what they are facing with him at the plate. Heck, they probably have tape and data that I don't have that would show how bad he is.
Palka was a 26 year old rookie for a reason, he just isn't cut out for the majors. It's hard to ignore how powerful his bat is as it is a very valuable part of his game, but that is the only value he has. Everything just flat out says this guy should stay at Triple-A. Palka will always be a good AAA player, but he is just not cut out to be an MLB player. Crushing AAA pitching is not a good indicator as to whether he should be in the major leagues or not, but if it was and he still wasn't recalled, then the White Sox see it too as to why he is not cut out to be a major leaguer.
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