Sam Antonacci has been hit by pitches eight times in 26 games since arriving in the majors, an odd little stat that has become part of his early White Sox story. Before Friday’s 10-5 loss to the Cubs, the rookie said the bruises are not the best part of the job, but the base that comes with them is.
“It’s not the most fun, but it’s fun getting on base,” Antonacci said Friday. He entered the game with a.389 on-base percentage, and White Sox manager Will Venable said that kind of traffic is exactly why the club keeps leaning on him.
“That’s part of his game. It’s a real skill that he’s got,” Venable said. “He gets on base a ton. Some of it is by hit by pitch. He sticks his nose in there and is not backing away. It’s part of who it is.”
The hit-by-pitch total stands out because it is so high so quickly, but it also fits the larger way the White Sox have been playing. Since April 17, when Antonacci was hit for the first time as a big leaguer, the White Sox have had the best on-base percentage in baseball at.353. In a lineup that has spent recent weeks finding ways to reach, Antonacci has become one of the more direct examples of how they do it.
The newest bruise came Wednesday night in a win over the Royals, and Antonacci said that one landed harder than most. “That one hurt a little bit more the other night,” he said. Some people suggested the pitch was intentional, and he was not bothered by the idea. “Some people were saying it was on purpose, but I’m all for that. That’s how baseball should be played. That’s how it was back in the old days. I know we let two pitches go away and hit two of their guys.”
That retaliation came after White Sox pitchers were hit by a pair of Kansas City pitches in the same game, and the response underscored how quickly one tense inning can become part of a team’s identity. Antonacci’s view was blunt: if someone sends a message, baseball should answer back.
What makes the sequence matter is not just the pain or the talk around it. It is that Antonacci is reaching base at a rate that would matter even without the bruises, and the White Sox are pairing that with the best team on-base mark in the sport over the same stretch. For now, the rookie’s willingness to wear one is helping define a club that has made getting aboard look like a habit, not a coincidence.
