3) Mike Tauchman
Mike Tauchman returned to Major League Baseball in 2023 after a brief stint in South Korea. After two solid seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Tauchman took his talents to the other team in Chicago, the White Sox. While he has less playing time this season than O’Hearn or Moniak due to a hamstring injury that forced him to miss most of April and May, he has been very productive when he is able to take the field.
In 220 plate appearances, Tauchman is batting .285/.368/.472 with a .366 wOBA, and 135 wRC+. The veteran outfielder has seven home runs and a .187 isolated slugging percentage on the season. He has always walked at a solid rate and has a 10.9% free pass percentage so far this year. The downside is that he has struck out a quarter of the time.
181 of Tauchman’s trips to the plate have been against right-handed pitching. He has a .817 OPS, .358 wOBA, and 130 wRC+ when facing a righty this season. While he has a 161 wRC+ against lefties, it is in less than 50 plate appearances. While Tauchman has always been playable against left-handed pitching, the White Sox have protected him from facing right-handed pitchers this year.
Tauchman’s defense in the outfield is playable. He has zero DRS and +1 OAA in just over 300 innings. That makes him a viable option to play the field when he needs to. He is not strictly a designated hitting option. This could be useful for the Mets down the stretch, as they could utilize the DH role to keep players like Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo fresh.