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 \u2026 well \u2026 a lying liar.<\/p>\n
A remarkable number of things have needed to go well for the Sox to find themselves in their current position in the standings. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Amid the various South Side breakouts, the achievements of 24-year-old Grant Taylor shouldn\u2019t go unnoticed. It\u2019s 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\u2019s talent is simply undeniable.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s check the tape from his perfect ninth inning against the Phillies on Saturday:<\/p>\n
Grant Taylor, K\u2019ing the Side in the 9th pic.twitter.com\/eAizlviLia<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s really no surprise that he\u2019s delivered dead ball era ratios of 50 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s not capable of actual wizardry.<\/p>\n If the Sox ever make a permanent closing switch, Taylor would immediately vault to the upper range of the rest-of-season pitcher ranks.<\/p>\n Jac Caglianone deserves a better stat line<\/p>\n If you\u2019re searching for a shorthand way to assess the most dangerous hitters in the game, I\u2019d recommend scanning the leaderboard in hard-hit rate. It isn\u2019t 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\u2019s Statcast leaders in hard-hit rate \u2014 the percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or more \u2014 were Kyle Schwarber (59.6%), Shohei Ohtani (58.4%) and Aaron Judge (58.2%).<\/p>\n Looking at the current MLB leaders in the category, we undoubtedly find a collection of maulers and breakout stars. But delightfully enough, there\u2019s also a guy who landed on your fantasy league\u2019s waiver wire three weeks ago:<\/p>\n Jac Caglianone, 59.5% Caglianone is, of course, the one here who\u2019s not like the others. Despite sitting on an unimpressive homer total for the season (six), he\u2019s been whacking baseballs as hard as anyone. Not only does he rank first in MLB in hard-hit rate, but he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n When we go looking for buy-low hitting targets, we want players exactly like Caglianone \u2014 dudes who are pulverizing the ball, but with only modest year-to-date numbers. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n When Caglianone gets a cookie, he can absolutely crush it:<\/p>\n Jac Caglianone unloads on a 419-foot home run \ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com\/KczzX2MCuI<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) June 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Caglianone is managing shoulder discomfort following a weekend confrontation with an outfield wall<\/a>, so let\u2019s hope it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n That\u2019s right, it\u2019s another Joshua B\u00e1ez blurb<\/p>\n OK, yes, we just discussed B\u00e1ez a week ago. And yes, the Cardinals outfield has arguably become even more impenetrable following the return of Lars Nootbaar. It\u2019s possible we should simply table the Baez conversation until a clear opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n Let the record show, however, that the 22-year-old power\/speed freak has not slowed down. B\u00e1ez has opened the month of June going 9-for-19 with three doubles, six RBI and one very noisy home run:<\/p>\n OF Joshua B\u00e1ez (AAA) continues his hot streak with his 17th HR of the season! \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n Over his last 8 games (including his first 3 AB today), B\u00e1ez is hitting .432 (16-for-37) with 6 HR, two triples, 3 doubles & 14 RBI. pic.twitter.com\/QNyjHXwfR7<\/a><\/p>\n
\nOneil Cruz, 59.2%
\nJames Wood, 58.7%
\nMunetaka Murakami, 58.7%
\nNick Kurtz, 58.2%
\nAaron Judge, 56.6%
\nPete Alonso, 56.5%<\/p>\n