Mazara looking to take 'next step' with White Sox
He came close to reaching projected stardom, in 2017.
At the tender age of 22 and already in his second full season with the Rangers, Nomar Mazara hit .253/.323/.422 with 30 doubles, 20 home runs and 101 RBI over 148 games.
There's been a dropoff the past two years, but the White Sox still see greatness in Mazara. That's why they acquired the right fielder in a Dec. 10 trade that sent minor league outfielder Steele Walker to Texas.
Mazara signed with the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic when he was 16. At the time, his $5 million bonus was an international record.
He made his major league debut at the age of 20 and slashed a combined .261/.320/.435 with 79 homers and 308 RBI in 537 games with the Rangers.
Not too shabby, but far from great.
Are Mazara's best days still to come, with the Sox?
"Change is something that's good for everybody," Mazara said Wednesday on a conference call. "You never know where you're going to become a star. If it wasn't in Texas, it can be with the White Sox. I'm working really hard right now, I'm in really good shape and I'm ready to take the next step."
The left-handed hitting Mazara hasn't been good against left-handed pitching, slashing .231/.272/.361 for his career, and his defensive game has been average at best.
He could be facing a platoon situation in right field, but Sox general manager Rick Hahn wants to see what Mazara can do when he's fully healthy.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder has dealt with a right thumb injury in each of the last two years, and an oblique strain slowed him last season.
"I know I have a lot in me still," Mazara said. "You've got to keep praying and if I can stay healthy the whole season next year, a lot of good things are going to happen."
After his impressive 2017 showing, Mazara was having another big year in '18. His home run off the White Sox's Dylan Covey on June 29 gave him 15 for the season, but that's when the thumb starting bothering him.
"I missed a month and came back and played, but that wasn't the right thing to do because I was playing hurt," Mazara said. "I think I just made it worse because it wasn't fully healed. I was probably like 50 or 60%. Last year, it wasn't healed for the first half of the season. The second half, it started feeling a lot better."
If he can live up to his early billing, Mazara makes the Sox a better team. He is already close with many of his new teammates, including left fielder Eloy Jimenez, starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and first baseman Jose Abreu, who Mazara says is a "cool-(bleep) guy."
"I'm really excited and looking forward to next season," said Mazara, who hit a 505-foot home run off Lopez last June. "They're trying to win and the fact I know all those guys, it's going to be a family, too. They're going to welcome me with open arms and we're going to get to work."