White Sox' Andrew Benintendi expects to be platooned this season

Andrew Benintendi is the only player on the White Sox roster who can count his years in decades, his games in thousands, his extra-base hits in the hundreds. He is the only player on the roster in possession of a World Series ring.

But as he begins the fourth season of the White Sox chapter of a distinguished career marked mostly on the South Side by losing (another 5-3 loss to the Orioles Wednesday), disappointment, injuries and unrealized expectations, this left a fresh wound.

One out in the seventh inning, the Sox trailed by a run against the Orioles. Miguel Vargas has beaten out an infield hit, Colson Montgomery has been hit by a pitch, and winning time beckons.

Benintendi was the next batter due to hit.

He had tripled and scored in his first at-bat, then struck out in his next two turns. Awaiting him on the hill was a left-handed reliever, Grant Wolfram, who had struck out Munetaka Murakami to start the inning.

“Obviously I want to be in that position,’’ Benintendi said of a chance to deliver. “Obviously I’m not swinging great right now, but I don’t think there will ever be a time where I don’t want to be hitting in that spot. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound.’’

Benintendi never got to the plate. White Sox manager Will Venable lifted him for a pinch-hitter, Derek Hill, who like Benintendi was a former No. 1 draft choice (Hill in 2014, Benintendi 2015), but had labored through long seasons in the minors, with just a handful of big-league appearances scattered over six teams.

Hill bats right. Benintendi bats left. Venable said he was playing the right-left matchups.

“That’s a matchup that we’re playing there, where we like Dee Hill against the lefties, and something we’ve been doing, we start a righty against the lefties,’’ Venable said. “Dee Hill has gotten no starts. As we try to complement this roster, those are the kind of moves we’re going to make.’’

Hill grounded into an inning-ending double play.

This was not about Hill failing to deliver in that spot. Even if he had come through, there was still a clear message to Benintendi: Going forward, the man who before Murakami ranked as the highest paid free-agent signing in club history and a player with two seasons still left on his deal should expect to be a platoon player.

“Right now, I’m not very surprised,’’ Benintendi said in his typical even-handed fashion. “So far this year, yesterday was basically the first time facing lefties this year. I guess they’re going more righty-lefty, lefty-righty matchups this year.’’

Even with Benintendi, who so far this season is batting .194, one percentage point less than Colson Montgomery.

“Yeah, even though honestly, I felt like I hit lefties better than righties last year.’’

The numbers bear him out. It’s highlighted in the first few paragraphs of his bio in the team’s media guide. He hit six home runs against lefties last season, and his .563 slugging percentage against lefties ranked eighth in the big leagues last season among left-handed hitters with at least 90 plate appearances. He had a .849 OPS vs. lefties, .709 vs. righties.

Venable said he took that into account, and still preferred Hill in that situation.

“We still think that was an upgrade,’’ Venable said. “The decision was that Derek gave us the best chance against Wolfram."

Ouch.

Benintendi, who has made just one start against a lefty this season (Tyler Rogers on Tuesday), said no one has sat down and told him explicitly that he will be platooned.

“Not directly,’’ he said, “but I think just kind of watching how it’s gone so far this season, I think that’s the route.’’