Silver Linings

I keep reading how the White Sox have this competitive window and it’s closing. Buy into that, and you buy into the notion of compete/rebuild cycles. Why is it, then, that the Braves, Cardinals and Dodgers always seem to compete without ever needing to rebuild? A good part of the answer is that they draft well, no matter how low their draft position might be any particular year. Consider that the Braves chose third baseman Austin Riley with the last pick of the first round in 2015 while we took Carson Fulmer. Rookie sensation center fielder Michael Harris went in the third round in 2019, well after we’d picked pitcher Andrew Dalquist, who so far has a 5.73 ERA over three minor-league seasons. And, before I forget, we picked catcher Zack Collins in 2016 ahead of either Gavin Lux or Will Smith, both taken by the Dodgers in the first round. The Sox also had two picks that draft, the second being reliever Zack Burdi. You know what that means, right? We could’ve drafted both Lux and Smith. Not only did Collins and Burdi go bust, we missed out on a second baseman and catcher who’ve both looked very good in LA, Smith back of the plate in particular. So, it was nice to see rookie pitcher Davis Martin and second-year right fielder Gavin Sheets play major roles in last night’s 3-1 win over Yu Darvish and the Padres. Martin won his third game of the year by giving up one run on six hits over 5.2 innings, with eight strikeouts against zero walks. Martin finishes the season with a 3.65 ERA and 1.18 WHIP over 61.2 innings. Not bad for a fourteenth-round draft choice back in 2018. Sheets, meanwhile, chipped in with two hits, including his nineteenth double of the year and a run scored. Just as important was his fourth outfield assist of the season, which cut down Jurickson Profar at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning with what would’ve been the tying run. Thank you very much. Sheets, a second-round pick in 2017, looked clueless at the plate back in May and June. He’s turned things around with fifteen homers and fifty-one RBIs in 364 at-bats, numbers to intrigue his current team or a possible new one if another general manager wants to acquire a left-handed bat connected to a 6’5” body. I’d rather he stays, but we’ll see. What counts is seeing players you’ve developed thrive. So, last night makes this season a little less of a disaster and gives me something to dream about come winter.