The White Sox lost their most promising young player to a catastrophic injury at the start of the month, interrupted the meteoric rise of another rookie with needless controversy, and still won at a 104-game clip. Here's everything that happened around the White Sox in the month of May.
TEAM PERFORMANCE
- Record: 19-10
- Standings: First, 3½ up
- Longest winning streak: Six, May 7-13
- Longest losing streak: Three, May 21-23
- Largest margin of victory: 12, May 17 vs. Twins
- Largest margin of defeat: 7, vs. Yankees
HITTING LEADERS
- Batting average: José Abreu, .333
- On-bace percentage: Yasmani Grandal, .467
- Slugging percentage: Abreu, .631
- wRC+: Abreu, 189
- Home runs: Abreu, 6
- RBI: Abreu, 27
- Walks: Grandal, 29 (lol)
- Strikeouts: Yoán Moncada, 35
- Stolen bases: Tim Anderson, 4
PITCHING LEADERS
- Wins: 5, Lance Lynn
- Losses: 2, Giolito, Carlos Rodón, Aaron Bummer
- ERA: Lynn, 1.64
- Innings: 37⅓, Giolito
- Strikeouts: 45, Giolito
- Appearances: 13, Liam Hendriks
- Relief innings: 13, Bummer
COMING AND GOING
- Going up: Luis González, Danny Mendick, Alex McRae, Ryan Burr, Zack Burdi, Jimmy Lambert
- Going down: González, McRae, Burdi
#SOXMORGUE
- Luis Robert: Torn right hip flexor
- Michael Kopech: Strained left hamstring
AWARDS
Most Valuable Player: José Abreu
Shout-out to Yoán Moncada, whose 24 walks and .455 OBP would lead the White Sox in every other month but this one, when Yasmani Grandal couldn't be pitched to. He tied Tim Anderson for the team lead with 17 runs, but since he only homered once, you can give Abreu a lot of credit for that particular column. Abreu got back to what he does best, driving in runs in bunches. His defensive improvement from last year stuck, and he also won a game with his baserunning. He's not as complete player as Moncada, but he does the best with the body he has.
Least Valuable Player: Adam Eaton
An understated leg injury robbed Eaton of his ability to make an impact, as he hit just .158/.304/.316 over 72 plate appearances. A big last day of the month salvaged his numbers, but it also came after a few days off, which might give Tony La Russa a better idea of how Eaton needs to be handled from here.
Most Valuable Pitcher: Lance Lynn
Lucas Giolito made a run at this with some late dominance, but Lynn put the White Sox in position to win all six of his starts, and they got the job done in five of them, so he's giving the Sox exactly what they need in his one year of team control, barring an extension. His efficiency took a turn for the better over the last two starts, with a five-inning outing at the end of the month limited by the possibility of a short-rest start that never materialized.
Least Valuable Pitcher: Jimmy Lambert
Dallas Keuchel was the weakest of the White Sox's regular starters, but even he went 3-0 with a 4.40 ERA over his five outings. So here's an extra kick to a rookie who made an emergency start in a doubleheader and tried his best. Sorry, Jimmy.
Fire Man: Liam Hendriks
Hendriks won the American League Relievers of the Month for his body of work, which featured a 0.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts to two walks over 11⅔ innings, with the only blemish a walk-off walk in Yankee Stadium. But hey, that drove in Aaron Bummer's run, so the joke's on him.
Gas Can: Aaron Bummer
Codi Heuer had a worse ERA than Bummer (5.91 to 4.15), but Bummer took two losses, issuing six walks and allowing two homers over 13 innings. He was scored upon in four of five outings at one point, and allowed two of four inherited runners to score. Heuer's flawed outings didn't swing outcomes the way Bummer's did.
Bench Player: Jake Lamb
The guy who had no natural path to playing time forced his way into the lineup in a regular basis by the end of the month by hitting .269/.387/.654 while faking it well enough in an outifeld corner. Turns at DH may be in his future, and few are likely to complain while he's this hot.
Stench Player: Danny Mendick
Lamb's emergence as somebody who doesn't hurt anybody by standing in right field relegates Mendick to the first man out. For the second consecutive year, Mendick buoyed his line with a hot start that can mask an entire month. In this case, Mendick hit .139/.205/.306. He finished the month 3-for-28 with 10 strikeouts over 31 plate appearances, although one of those hits was a grand slam.
Gold Glove: Tim Anderson
Yoán Mocnada had a strong month for the most part and has the edges in metrics, although communication on pop-ups remains a nagging issue for him. Anderson finally started making the plays on the edges of his range that he'd struggled to complete over the last year-plus, and he's only committed two errors through two months.
Hands of Stone: Nick Madrigal
He seemed to process plays quicker at the end of the month, and the White Sox played pretty respectable defense all the way around the diamond, but Madrigal's errors have an element of panic that looks out of place, as evidenced by his double error against the Yankees, and a bobble and flip to the wrong base against Minnesota.
TIMELINE
Tragic hip: While legging out an infield single, Luis Robert's right leg fails him while approaching first base. He has to be helped off the field, and the official injury description of a right hip flexor tear that has him out for 12-16 weeks with or without surgery. (May 2)
Minor matters: After losing all of the 2020 season to the COVID-19 pandemic, the White Sox's minor league affiliates take the field in another pleasant return of normality. (May 4)
Cease firepower: Batting for himself for the first time since high school, Dylan Cease becomes the first White Sox pitcher since 1972 to record three hits in a game, the best of which was a butcher-boy double off the base of the right-field wall. He did all this while holding the Cincinnati Reds to one hit over six innings in a 9-0 victory. (May 4)
Another rule fiasco: Tony La Russa isn't aware that he could use somebody besides Liam Hendriks to be the Manfred Man at second base in the 10th inning until James Fegan reads the rule to him after the game. The ignorance is compounded when Leury García is cut down at second on an ill-advised stolen-base attempt to end the inning, because Hendriks was no threat to break for home. The White Sox don't score, and the Reds do what they need to for a 1-0 victory. (May 5)
Undesirable history: Four Birmingham Barons pitchers combine to walk 13 batters in one inning -- not one game, one inning -- in a 14-6 loss to Biloxi. To the extent that anybody can search minor league records, the feat is unrivaled at any tracked level. (May 7)
Over after one: Daniel Lynch faces the White Sox in his second-ever start and gives up eight runs during the first inning. (May 8)
Long Vaughn: After a month of strong exit velocities paired with suboptimal launch angles or inopportune park dimensions, Andrew Vaughn finally delivers his first homer off Minnesota starter JA Happ. At 436 feet, he had plenty of room to spare. (May 12)
Billy Hamilton also stood out for going 4-for-4 with a triple, double and stolen base.
"Twins" without "wins": The White Sox take all three games in their first series against Minnesota, even with a series of increasingly limited, error-prone games. (May 13)
60 percent of the seats: With the blessing of the city, the White Sox get the green light to raise capacity from fewer than 10,000 fans to 24,300 at the start of the next homestand. (May 14)
When large men collide: In the first game of a White Sox-Royals doubleheader, Hunter Dozier thinks he's in the clear when he circles around Yasmani Grandal after popping up pitch on the first-base side of home. He does not see a hard-charging José Abreu booking it toward home in an attempt to take control of the pop-up. Abreu and Dozier smash into each other about 20 feet from where Grandal catches the ball, and both leave the game. (May 14)
When large men dare: Two days and three games after the collision with Dozier, a bandaged Abreu shows he's back at full strength when he scores on a not-all-that-wild pitch with an artful slide around a diving Cam Gallagher with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for the game-winning run. (May 16)
A blow-up within a blowout: Yermín Mercedes contributes the final damage to a 16-4 White Sox victory by homering on a 3-0 swing off pitching position player Willans Astudiillo. (May 17)
The repercussions: Tony La Russa adds fuel to the fire by excoriating Mercedes for his violation of the unwritten rules before the game. After it, he defends Minnesota pitcher Tyler Duffey and manager Rocco Baldelli by saying he couldn't determine whether Duffey's fastball behind Mercedes' legs was retaliatory. The league eventually sides against La Russa by suspending Duffey for three games. (May 18)
Tensions cool: The White Sox close out the turbulent series with a win behind a Lucas Giolito gem, then head to New York dressed like Yoán Moncada. (May 19)
Old schooled: Twice in one series -- making it three times in a month -- Tony La Russa refuses to use his closer in the ninth inning of a tie game on the road, at least to open the inning. The White Sox lose both the opener and the closer in the Bronx via walk-offs. In the latter, Liam Hendriks was summoned with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth and issued a five-pitch walk to end the game. (May 21, May 23)
An extra year of high school: The highly anticipated matchup of high school teammates Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty wastes no time devolving into a farce, but in a way that tilts toward the White Sox. They score their first two runs without the benefit of the hit, and score five runs via two hits and three Cardinals errors. The Sox hand Flaherty his first loss after eight wins to open the season, and Giolito bragging rights over his friend. (May 25)
The return of the Yermínator: After falling into a slump following the controversy of his homer against the Twins, Yermín Mercedes finally resembles a threat when he turns around a 90-mph Bruce Zimmermann fastball at 116 mph. (May 27)
New threads: The White Sox unveil their new Nike-directed City Connect uniforms to consensus acclaim, even if I wish the White Sox angled for more of a departure from their standard black-and-white theme. (May 28)
Double duty: Liam Hendriks closes out both games of a doubleheader against Baltimore, the first time since Bobby Thigpen in 1991. (May 30)
Extra, extra: The White Sox finally conquer their extra-inning woes by tagging Cleveland's James Karinchak for three runs in the top of the eighth in an 8-6 victory in the first game of a doubleheader. (May 31)
