Andrew Benintendi on why the White Sox can make a bigger jump in 2026

The White Sox Podcast w/ Chuck Garfien

Chicago Sports Network

Sports, Sports:baseball, Baseball

4.7 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chuck Garfien’s Spring Training Podcast-pa-looza continues with a sit-down featuring White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi, who shares what he’s seeing from the 2026 Chicago White Sox and why he believes the club can take a step forward after a strong finish to 2025. Benintendi explains why the word “gritty” best describes the identity this team is trying to build and discusses his role as a veteran presence alongside new additions like Austin Hays and Munetaka Murakami. Benintendi also opens up about playing through an Achilles injury and the growth he’s seeing in teammates like Opening Day starter Shane Smith. Plus, he talks about his hitting relationship with his dad, his mixed feelings about the Trajekt machine (while giving Chuck some swing advice), his Italian heritage and potential World Baseball Classic future with Italy, and what he hopes fans will say about the 2026 White Sox when the season is over.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you ready for your winning moment?
0:02.6	Find it at Wind Creek, Chicago, Southland, where the action never stops.
0:07.6	Play the hottest table games.
0:09.3	Enjoy the newest slots and celebrate big jackpots.
0:12.9	At Win Creek, there's a win waiting for you around every corner.
0:17.7	...women. around every corner.
0:26.4	Hey, everybody, it's Chuck Garfin.
0:28.1	Welcome to the White Sox podcast.
0:30.8	It's brought to, as always, by Wind Creek, Chicago, Southland.
0:36.6	I'm here at White Sox Spring Training, Glendale, Arizona, Camback Ranch on the podcast today. This is a long overdue conversation with
0:40.5	Andrew Benetendi. Now, if you asked Benny, hey, these first three seasons that you've been with
0:46.5	the White Sox, has this gone according to plan for you personally or for the team? I'm sure
0:52.0	he would say no. We will talk about that, these first three seasons with the White Sox, but also more specifically, this season coming up for the Sox. How close does he think this team is to being a winning team, maybe even a playoff team? Benny will share that. Also, I asked Colson Montgomery last week, what's the one word
1:11.8	you would use to describe the way the White Sox are going to play in 2026? He said resilient.
1:17.6	Benny has another word that I really like for this team. He gets into that and a whole lot more.
1:24.5	Great conversation with Andrew Benetendi here on the White Sox podcast.
1:28.3	Here we go.
1:29.3	The ball hit deep way back. There's a blast, deep to left. Oh, holy cow,
1:40.3	Carlton Chris has put the White Sox ahead.
1:47.7	Montgomery, deep to right field, back it goes.
1:51.0	His first big league home run.
1:53.5	You can't put it on board.
	...

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