Andrew Benintendi

Andrew Sebastian Benintendi (born July 6, 1994) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, and New York Yankees.

He also played high school basketball, earning 2011–12 Cincinnati Enquirer Division III Co-Player of the Year honors and setting school records in career points (1,753) and season points (638), career three-pointers (180), and points per game in a season (25.5).

The Cincinnati Reds selected Benintendi in the 31st round of the 2013 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, but he did not sign with the Reds.

He enrolled at the University of Arkansas to play college baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team.

As a true freshman, he played in 61 games, with 60 starts and hit .276/.368/.333 with one home run and 27 RBIs.

Benintendi played college baseball for the Arkansas Razorbacks of the University of Arkansas, where he won the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy in 2015.

The Red Sox selected Benintendi in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut with the Red Sox in 2016.

In 2015, his junior year, Benintendi led the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in batting average (.380), home runs (19), on-base percentage (.489), slugging percentage (.715), and walks (47).

He was named the SEC Player of the Year.

He also won the Baseball America College Player of the Year Award, the Dick Howser Trophy, and the Golden Spikes Award.

The Boston Red Sox chose Benintendi with the seventh overall selection in the 2015 MLB draft.

He signed with the Red Sox, receiving a $3.6 million signing bonus.

Benintendi made his professional debut with the Lowell Spinners of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League.

Andrew finished the 2015 season playing 19 games for the Class A Greenville Drive going 26/74 (.351) and posting an OPS of 1.011.

He began the 2016 season with the Salem Red Sox of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, and received a promotion to the Portland Sea Dogs of the Class AA Eastern League on May 15.

The Red Sox promoted Benintendi to the major leagues on August 2, 2016, straight from Double-A, only 421 days after being selected in the draft.

He made his major league debut on August 2, against the Seattle Mariners as a pinch hitter, and recorded his first major league hit off of Hisashi Iwakuma on August 3.

Benintendi recorded both his first major league triple and home run against the Detroit Tigers on August 21 in a 10–5 loss.

On October 6, in Game 1 of the 2016 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians, Benintendi hit a home run in his first postseason at bat, off of Indians' pitcher Trevor Bauer.

With the feat, Benintendi became the youngest Red Sox player to hit a home run in a postseason game.

However, the Indians won the game by a score of 5–4 and swept the series in three games.

Benintendi ended the 2016 season with a .295 batting average, 31 hits, 14 RBIs, two home runs, and one stolen base in 34 games played.

Benintendi started the 2017 season as part of the Red Sox' Opening Day roster, batting second as Boston defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 5–3.

On July 4, against the Texas Rangers, Benintendi went 5-for-5 with 6 RBIs, two home runs, and a double in the 11–4 victory.

He finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting, despite receiving no first-place votes due to Aaron Judge winning unanimously.

Overall, during the 2017 Red Sox regular season, Benintendi batted .271 with 20 home runs, 90 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 151 games played.

In the ALDS against the eventual World Series champions, the Houston Astros, he batted .250 (4-for-16) with a home run and two RBIs in four games.

Through the first half of the season, he was the team's regular left fielder, usually batting second, behind Mookie Betts.

He was a part of the 2018 World Series champions.

On July 8, Benintendi was named as a candidate in the American League's All-Star Final Vote, for a spot in the 2018 MLB All-Star Game.

At that point in the season, Benintendi had a slash line of .293/.379/.515 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs.

In the Final Vote, fans selected Jean Segura of the Seattle Mariners.

The Red Sox traded Benintendi to the Royals after the 2020 season.

He won a Gold Glove Award in 2021 and was an All-Star in 2022.

The Yankees acquired him from the Royals in 2022 and he signed with the White Sox as a free agent after the 2022 season.

Benintendi attended Madeira High School, in Madeira, Ohio.

Playing for the school's baseball team, he batted .564 with 12 home runs, 57 runs batted in (RBIs), and 38 stolen bases for the Mustangs baseball team in his senior year.

Benintendi was the ABCA/Rawlings National High School Player of the Year and Ohio Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year.

He finished his high school career with an Ohio-record 199 career runs scored.