Yoan seeking to regain comfort, aggressiveness

CHICAGO -- Second baseman Yoán Moncada entered Wednesday's series finale against the Yankees hitless in his last 16 at-bats and 1 for his last 25.
Seemed like a good time for a break, but manager Rick Renteria had Moncada back at the top of his lineup. Moncada went 1-for-4 in the 7-3 loss, his lone hit a single off New York starter Luis Severino.
"He hasn't expressed a desire nor a need [to rest]," Renteria said. "I'm sure we'll give him one, but he needs to keep going through this and experience it and see if he can battle through it a little bit."
"I'm not feeling as good as I was feeling probably a couple of weeks ago," said Moncada through interpreter Billy Russo. "I'm just trying to be more aggressive, especially with two strikes, try to defend a little better. I'm not feeling as good with my approach at home plate. That's probably one of the reasons that I've been striking out more than I want."
Moncada's strikeout total has reached a Major League-worst 163 to go with his .218 average. He has spoken to MLB.com about a 2019 goal of lowering his strikeout total, as well as a desire to be a bit more aggressive attacking within the zone while not losing his keen eye at the plate.
Moncada's even-keeled demeanor doesn't change in good times or bad, which will help him handle this downturn and others in the future. Presently, he's fighting to regain that comfortable fit at the plate.
"It's more like a feeling. I don't have that feeling right now. I have to keep working to regain that feeling again, to feel comfortable," he said. "There was a time a few weeks ago I was being aggressive, and I got good results. I lost that aggressiveness.
"Now that is what I'm fighting through. I'm trying to regain that aggressiveness again and to start producing at the level I know I can produce."
Reinsdorf makes special presentation
When the White Sox won the 2005 World Series, the entire grounds crew received watches. On Wednesday team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf presented one of those watches to Nevest Coleman, who returned to the team this season after being wrongly incarcerated for 23 years before DNA evidence exonerated him and led to his release on Dec. 1, 2017. Prior to his arrest, Coleman was a hard-working member of the grounds crew at what was then Comiskey Park.
"You should have been with us in 2005 when we won the World Series, but you were someplace else," Reinsdorf said. "Had you been here, there's something you would have gotten as a member of the grounds crew. So I wanted to give you that something right now. We don't want you to be cheated.
"That's something you should have had, and now you have it. Nice to have you back."

Sanchez takes part in National PLAY Campaign event
Third baseman Yolmer Sánchez joined the White Sox athletic training staff, the Ruderman Family Foundation, the Taylor Hooton Foundation and the Henry Schein Cares Foundation for the 2018 National PLAY Campaign's stop at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday. The event was aimed at educating area youth about the importance of living a healthy and active lifestyle.
Created in 2004 by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, the PLAY (Promoting a Lifetime of Activity for Youth) campaign was formed to raise awareness about children's health issues and the obesity epidemic in the United States.
Third to first
• Eloy Jiménez, the No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 3 in all of baseball per MLB Pipeline, returned to Triple-A Charlotte's lineup on Wednesday and hit his ninth home run. He had missed two games due to flu-like symptoms.
• The White Sox will honor Jim Thome this Saturday for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Fellow White Sox great Mark Buehrle will be among the guests attending the pregame ceremony.