BIOGRAPHY
Andrew Benintendi was born July 6, 1994, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a left fielder in the MLB.
For the 2018 Red Sox, Benintendi was again on the Opening Day roster. Through the first half of the season, he was the team's regular left fielder, usually batting second, behind Mookie Betts. 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. For the season Benintendi appeared in 148 games hitting .290 with 41 doubles, 103 runs scored, 16 home runs and 87 RBIs and stealing 21 bases. In the 2018 MLB playoffs, Benintendi recorded the final outs to seal victories for the Red Sox in Games 4 and 5 of the 2018 American League Championship Series, the first of the two a diving effort to prevent a bases-loaded hit in a two-run game. The Red Sox won the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving Benintendi his first championship title. In the World Series Benintendi had 4 hits in Game 1 and hit .333 in the Fall Classic.
In 2021, Benintendi was awarded the Gold Glove for his defensive performance.
On February 10, 2021, the Red Sox traded Benintendi and cash considerations to the Kansas City Royals as part of a three-team trade in which the Red Sox acquired Franchy Cordero, Josh Winckowski, and three players to be named later (identified in June as minor league prospects: outfielder Freddy Valdez from the Mets, and pitchers Grant Gambrell and Luis De La Rosa from the Royals) while the New York Mets received Khalil Lee. In his first year with the Royals, Benintendi batted .276/.324/.442 with 17 home runs and 73 RBIs in 134 games. He led all left fielders with 1,116 innings played and a .987 fielding percentage, and won his first Gold Glove Award.
In salary arbitration, Benintendi was awarded a salary of $8.5 million for the 2022 season. He began the season batting .317 en route to being named the Royals' lone representative to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game.
On January 3, 2023, Benintendi signed a five-year contract worth $75 million with the Chicago White Sox.
