The Future is...Coming?

The White Sox have stopped circling the drain long enough to record four straight wins, including a three-game sweep of the AL-best Astros.  I watched, and learned.

Regardless what the team is doing on the field, TV broadcasts give regular minor-league updates along with rebuild tutorials.  Why, did you know the Astros had six straight losing years, including three straight 106-plus loss seasons before it all came together?  And last night’s opponent, the Kansas City Royals, also went through nine straight losing seasons before getting it all together.  If only the guys in the booth had bothered to mention the other, earlier nine-year span of sub-.500 seasons, from 1994-2002.  But we don’t want White Sox fans thinking they’re in store for so much losing baseball, now do we?  I mean, we’re already at five straight losing seasons and, barring a miracle, six come October.

That said, General Manager Rick Hahn has cause to breathe easier this week.  Yoan Moncada, he of the Chris Sale trade, is only hitting .215 since his call up, but he also has an on-base percentage of .370; not bad.  From what I can tell, Moncada will strike out but not go fishing in the process.  You can build on that.  And he had his first-ever walk-off hit Thursday against Houston.

Last night saw the Sox debut of righty starter Reynaldo Lopez, and he, too, looked good, giving up just two runs in six innings.  The night before that, Carlos Rodon went eight innings while giving up two runs.  That’s two-fifths of a reconstructed pitching staff.  Come September, maybe we’ll see what the other minor-league pitchers can do.

As for rookie center fielder Adam Engel, he has the rest of the season to figure out how to hit.  I give Engel credit, though.  Once his average slipped below .200, he changed his stance so that he doesn’t look so stiff and mechanical at the plate.  It worked last night at least, with Engel hitting two triples in a 6-3 win over the Royals.  Maybe I should mention here that Engel is a walking—and leaping and diving—highlight reel in the field.  Hence, the time granted for him to work on his hitting.

Too bad James Shields starts tonight.  A five-game winning streak would’ve been nice.