The Chicago White Sox have smartly brought together a collection of international talents, veteran reclamation projects and frisky young prospects this season. But anyone who suggests they believed this team would actually be comfortably above .500 and challenging for the division lead in early June is … well … a lying liar.

A remarkable number of things have needed to go well for the Sox to find themselves in their current position in the standings. It’s a team full of surprises. Miguel Vargas is cruising toward a 20-HR/20-SB season with an OPS of .869, and he is probably not even one of the five craziest stories on this team.

Amid the various South Side breakouts, the achievements of 24-year-old Grant Taylor shouldn’t go unnoticed. It’s no exaggeration to say that Taylor is as good as any non-Mason Miller reliever in baseball. You might reasonably question whether guys like Vargas, Davis Martin, Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami can continue their early-season performance, but Taylor’s talent is simply undeniable.

Let’s check the tape from his perfect ninth inning against the Phillies on Saturday:

Grant Taylor, K’ing the Side in the 9th pic.twitter.com/eAizlviLia

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 6, 2026

The fastball reached triple-digits; the curve was diabolical, and that slider to Schwarber was cartoonishly unhittable. Taylor has the arsenal of an elite starter and the velocity of a top-tier closer. It’s really no surprise that he’s delivered dead ball era ratios of 50 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.

Taylor has become one of those rare non-closing relievers who demands to be rostered pretty much everywhere. Seranthony Dominguez has been an acceptable ninth-inning option this season, saving 11 games while producing a 1.17 WHIP, but he’s not capable of actual wizardry.

If the Sox ever make a permanent closing switch, Taylor would immediately vault to the upper range of the rest-of-season pitcher ranks.

Jac Caglianone deserves a better stat line

If you’re searching for a shorthand way to assess the most dangerous hitters in the game, I’d recommend scanning the leaderboard in hard-hit rate. It isn’t necessarily a perfect indicator of future production, but, invariably, it delivers a good list of names. Generally speaking, we like players who make loud contact with great frequency. Last year’s Statcast leaders in hard-hit rate — the percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or more — were Kyle Schwarber (59.6%), Shohei Ohtani (58.4%) and Aaron Judge (58.2%).

Looking at the current MLB leaders in the category, we undoubtedly find a collection of maulers and breakout stars. But delightfully enough, there’s also a guy who landed on your fantasy league’s waiver wire three weeks ago:

Jac Caglianone, 59.5%
Oneil Cruz, 59.2%
James Wood, 58.7%
Munetaka Murakami, 58.7%
Nick Kurtz, 58.2%
Aaron Judge, 56.6%
Pete Alonso, 56.5%

Caglianone is, of course, the one here who’s not like the others. Despite sitting on an unimpressive homer total for the season (six), he’s been whacking baseballs as hard as anyone. Not only does he rank first in MLB in hard-hit rate, but he’s also third in 50th-percentile exit velocity (106.6 mph), ninth in max EV (116.1) and 10th in bat speed (76.7). He swings like a demon, basically.

When we go looking for buy-low hitting targets, we want players exactly like Caglianone — dudes who are pulverizing the ball, but with only modest year-to-date numbers. He’s been somewhat contact-challenged to this point in his career (30.0 K%), but not unusually so by the standards of elite modern power hitters.

When Caglianone gets a cookie, he can absolutely crush it:

Jac Caglianone unloads on a 419-foot home run 💪 pic.twitter.com/KczzX2MCuI

— MLB (@MLB) June 2, 2026

Caglianone is managing shoulder discomfort following a weekend confrontation with an outfield wall, so let’s hope it’s nothing too serious. We need him back in action soon, because Kansas City is about to face two of the more homer-friendly pitching rotations in baseball over their next three series (Houston and Washington). This week and next should be an ideal time to test-drive a talented underachiever with 30-homer potential.

That’s right, it’s another Joshua Báez blurb

OK, yes, we just discussed Báez a week ago. And yes, the Cardinals outfield has arguably become even more impenetrable following the return of Lars Nootbaar. It’s possible we should simply table the Baez conversation until a clear opportunity presents itself.

Let the record show, however, that the 22-year-old power/speed freak has not slowed down. Báez has opened the month of June going 9-for-19 with three doubles, six RBI and one very noisy home run:

OF Joshua Báez (AAA) continues his hot streak with his 17th HR of the season! 🔥

Over his last 8 games (including his first 3 AB today), Báez is hitting .432 (16-for-37) with 6 HR, two triples, 3 doubles & 14 RBI. pic.twitter.com/QNyjHXwfR7

— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) June 3, 2026

He’s now up to 17 homers and 11 steals on the season. He leads the International League in extra-base hits (31), and he’s second in both home runs and total bases (127). He swiped 54 bags last year across two levels, so his multi-category fantasy appeal is tough to miss.

Báez has also whiffed 79 times already in 55 games at Memphis, suggesting that he probably isn’t ready to hit for average at the big-league level (or possibly any level). Still, he is one of the most highly stashable prospects in our game. Whenever he gets the call, he will arrive as a fantasy-relevant player deserving attention in all formats.

Reminder: New closers are born every week

Alex Lange earned a pair of saves last week, claiming the ninth from the recently terrible Lucas Erceg. Lange certainly hasn’t been the most bankable arm in Kansas City’s bullpen this season, but he’s a veteran right-hander with Proven Closer™ status. His elevation to the closing role should not be viewed as a significant surprise. Carlos Estevez (shoulder) has been playing catch, but he’s not close to rejoining the Royals.

Elsewhere in the AL Central, Yoendrys Gomez has earned the last two saves for the Twins, a team that seems to take a spin-the-wheel approach in the ninth. Eleven different relievers are responsible for Minnesota’s 16 saves so far this year. Eddie Guardado ain’t walking through that door.

Hoping to stream your way to 3 wins and a 5-something ERA? Keep reading, friend…

It’s been said many times that fortune favors the bold, but there’s also a fine line between bold and reckless. We can’t be sure which side of that line Grant Holmes is standing on at any given moment. All we can do is embrace the two-start weeks and accept the consequences.

Grant Holmes, Atlanta (at CWS, at NYM): Holmes hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last five starts, plus his career K/9 is 9.1. His best games are genuinely impressive. We’re either catching him at a perfect moment, or we’re adding him just ahead of detonation. *Shrug*
Dustin May, St. Louis (at NYM, at MIN): Sure, it’s possible these recent starts have been fool’s gold, but May is still worth a speculative pickup just in case they weren’t. He’s struck out 25 batters over his last 18.0 innings, and he flirted with a no-hitter against Milwaukee only two weeks ago.
Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati (at SD, vs. ARI): According to the roster percentage data at most fantasy platforms, Abbott shouldn’t be available to many of you. But he happens to be unattached in several of my leagues, so he might be more widely available in leagues with active managers. It would make some sense, because he was rocked a couple of times back in April, but he’s been solid over his last seven starts (2.25 ERA).
Zac Gallen, Arizona (at MIA, at CIN): Gallen has been hit decently hard over his last two starts, but, in fairness, the degree-of-difficulty was high (vs. LAD, at SEA). This week, he gets a pair of matchups against teams that rank in the bottom-half of the National League in runs and OPS.