Benetti: From Opening Day to now, White Sox embrace change

On April 4, the Chicago White Sox - as they were constituted then - played the Detroit Tigers. Let's see where the 2017 Opening Day Sox ended up as of Sept. 1.

April 4 starting lineup:

1. Tyler Saladino (he hit second on Sept. 1)

2. Tim Anderson (hit first)

3. Melky Cabrera (now in Kansas City)

4. Jose Abreu (on bench with elbow trouble)

5. Todd Frazier (New York)

6. Cody Asche (Charlotte)

7. Avisail Garcia (hit third)

8. Omar Narvaez (substitute at first base for Leury Garcia)

9. Jacob May (Charlotte)

Bench: Yolmer Sanchez (hit ninth); Leury Garcia (hit seventh, injured in-game); Matt Davidson (hit fourth); and Geovany Soto (on disabled list).

There you have it: On Sept. 1, not one position player was in the same spot in which he started the season.

On Opening Day, the Sox bullpen consisted of: Dan Jennings (Tampa Bay); David Robertson (New York); Nate Jones (disabled list); Zach Putnam (disabled list); Anthony Swarzak (Milwaukee); Michael Ynoa (Charlotte); and Jake Petricka, who pitched in the seventh inning in both games.

Five months. Trades and roster moves galore. And only Jacob Steven Petricka, of Faribault High School in Minnesota, essentially did the same thing on Sept. 1 that he was called upon to do on April 4.

In the opener, he was pitching behind Jose Quintana, who now makes his home slightly more north. On Sept. 1, Petricka was throwing in back of 23-year-old Reynaldo Lopez.

The rotation, by the way, only contains two players - James Shields and Derek Holland - from the Opening Day roster still in it (Dylan Covey has moved to the bullpen).

And yes, it's terribly easy to say "Hey, the team in last place made major changes."

It also shows how much individuals can alter the viewpoint of decision-makers over the course of just a few months, even given the rafts of data that exist about our game today. As the old saw goes, necessity is the mother of invention.

Just a few to consider:

• On Day One, Avisail Garcia was the seventh-place hitter in the Sox lineup, behind Cody Asche. Today, Avi has become a first-time Major League all-star who leads the Sox in batting average.

• Yolmer Sanchez, who had fought for his position on the bench in recent years, began 2017 as a reserve. He didn't get his first start until Game 5 of the regular season. Entering the first series of September, he had driven in 11 runs in his past 11 games and has been in the lineup against both left-handed and right-handed pitching.

• Maybe we should have known when Matt Davidson homered in Game 2 that this season would provide him significant power numbers. But Davidson didn't start a game against a right-handed pitcher until Game 8. Now, he's a middle-of-the-order hitter who is on pace to have a Top 3 all-time finish as a White Sox rookie in terms of home runs.

Who knows where these players - and others - will fit in during the future of the White Sox. Yes, they have flaws. All players do. But, their performance has changed minds.

And that's all we can ask for in the age of big data - the opportunity to fight against our reputations.

• Jason Benetti is a play-by-play broadcaster for the White Sox, as well as ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @jasonbenetti.