One thing that can be said about the 2014 Chicago White Sox is that they have certainly been more fun to watch than they were last season, but then again that’s not saying much.
In 2013 the White Sox were one of the worst offensive (or most offensive, depending how you look at it) teams in all of baseball, which made for some long days at U.S. Cellular Field. This ineptitude led general manager Rick Hahn to desperately start searching last off season for somebody, anybody, who could come in and help reignite the stagnant offense.
Hahn had actually begun that process during last season when he acquired the highly regarded Avisail Garcia from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline. However, Garcia was lost to injury early this season. Thankfully, Hahn hadn’t stopped there in his quest to rebuild the lineup, and the additional moves he’s made have helped turn around the offense.
According to TeamRankings.com, the 2014 White Sox are averaging the most ninth-inning runs scored (.59) of any team in baseball, and they have also averaged the second-most runs scored (1.04) from the eighth inning on.
In other words, they don’t quit—which seemed to be a problem last year.
Overall, the team is scoring 4.31 runs per game (ninth in MLB), which is a vast improvement on what they averaged last season (3.69) when they were the lowest-scoring team in the American League and second-lowest scoring team in all of baseball.
So things have definitely improved offensively in 2014 for the White Sox. Unfortunately, however, there are two other important aspects of the game: pitching and defense. And there is definite room for improvement in both areas.
The top three in the starting rotation have been solid, but the four and five spots have been inconsistent. More importantly, the bullpen has been a mess for most of the season as guys have failed to find their roles.
And defensively, well, let’s just say that things can improve there as well.
As we head into July and towards the All-Star break, let’s take a look at five things we have learned about the White Sox so far this season.