The White Sox agreed to terms on a one-year, $1.375 million contract with outfielder Adam Engel on Wednesday, avoiding arbitration.
A Gold Glove finalist as a center fielder in 2018 whose offense has improved steadily in each of his four major league seasons, Engel, 29, batted .295/.333/.477 with three homers and 12 RBI over 36 games in 2020.
Primarily a fourth outfielder behind Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Nomar Mazara in the 60-game 2020 season, Engel started 16 games in right field, four in left and three in center. He started all three games of the American League Wild Card series against the Athletics in Oakland and went 3-for-12 including a homer and a double.
The Sox signed right fielder Adam Eaton earlier this month to take over Mazara’s starting spot in right field, with Engel, a .310/.355/.466 hitter against left-handed pitching the last two seasons, likely filling the fourth outfielder’s role and possibly platooning with the left-handed hitting Eaton.
The Sox drafted Engel out of Louisville in the 19th round in the 2013 draft.
