The White Sox informed reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times) that they’ve inked infielder Andre Lipcius to a minor league contract. He’ll get a non-roster invitation to MLB Spring Training.
Lipcius returns to the AL Central, where he’s spent the majority of his career. The Tigers selected him in the third round of the 2019 draft. The Tennessee product reached the majors with Detroit at the end of the ’23 campaign. He hit .286/.342/.400 in a 13-game sample. The Tigers squeezed him off the 40-man roster last winter. They traded him to the Dodgers, who outrighted him just before Opening Day.
The righty-hitting Lipcius spent the entire season with the Dodgers’ top affiliate in Oklahoma City. He had a solid season, hitting 25 homers with a .271/.351/.458 slash while appearing in 140 games. He drew walks at a strong 10.7% clip while striking out at a league average 22.8% rate. The Dodgers never called him up, so he elected minor league free agency at the end of the season.
While Lipcius has limited MLB experience, he’s a sensible depth target for the White Sox. He carries a .276/.360/.444 slash line in more than 1200 Triple-A plate appearances. Lipcius doesn’t make a ton of hard contact — this year’s home run tally was certainly aided by playing in the Pacific Coast League — but he has good strike zone discipline. A third baseman in college and for most of his time in the Detroit system, he played mostly first base with OKC. He has some experience at second base as well.
The Sox tendered Andrew Vaughn an arbitration contract, meaning he’s likely to remain the starting first baseman. Miguel Vargas is the projected third baseman, though he didn’t hit at all after coming over from the Dodgers in the Michael Kopech/Erick Fedde deadline deal. Glove-first utilityman Lenyn Sosa might get first look at the keystone. There’s a clear opportunity for Lipcius to hit his way into the mix during Spring Training.
