Better late than never: After hamstring injuries, Tauchman heating up for Sox
Mike Tauchman entered Monday's action hitting .372, so the Palatine native has given the White Sox what they hoped for when they signed him away from the Cubs as a free agent.
The problem is, two hamstring injuries have limited him to playing in just 13 of the first 60 games.
“Certainly the performance on the field, and his results and production have been great,” Sox manager Will Venable said before Monday's game against Detroit.
“He's also someone that's very vocal in the dugout, vocal in the clubhouse; helping share information that he has on pitchers and holding guys accountable to the expectations that we have. So he's been a huge impact both on and off the field for us.”
An important moment in the White Sox's season was April 9 in Cleveland. The Sox trailed 3-1 with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning. Miguel Vargas singled to left and Tauchman tried to score the tying run from second base, but pulled up short of the plate with a hamstring strain and was tagged out to end the game.
“Yeah, it was difficult,” Tauchman said. “The situation, it felt like that was going be a big rally for our team. So I felt like I didn't come through for the team; knew that it was more significant than the first one. So that was really frustrating, really difficult time.”
He'd already missed the start of the season with a hamstring injury, so the Sox gave him more time to recover. When he finally returned on May 23, he scored 3 runs in two days as the Sox beat Texas twice.
During the five games before Monday, he went 10-for-20 at the plate. The Sox have gone 3-8 in games Tauchman starts. Six of the losses were by 1 run and the other two by 2 runs.
“I love this team,” Tauchman said. “The group's been great. It's a good mix of some veteran guys and some young guys that are finding their way in the big leagues. It's been good, because I think it's a group that's showing up and competing every single day.”
Teel earns award
The White Sox named Charlotte catcher Kyle Teel and Birmingham left-hander Jake Palisch minor league players of the month for May.
Teel, acquired from Boston in the Garrett Crochet trade, posted an OPS of 1.057 last month. He's the White Sox No. 2-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline. So it's natural to wonder if he'll join fellow catching phenom Edgar Quero in the majors soon.
“Three catchers just isn't something we've talked about yet,” Venable said Monday.
After a good start, Quero is just 5-for-31 at the plate during the past two weeks as opposing pitchers are throwing more fastballs. So maybe a Triple -A swap will make sense soon.
Palisch, an undrafted free agent from Texas A&M, led all of minor league baseball in opponent batting average (.092) and WHIP (0.54) in May.
Tiger tale
In 2022, the Tigers lost 96 games. As they open this series on the South Side, they own the best record in the majors. Does that bring hope for the White Sox rebuild?
“Well, I'm optimistic about the changes that we can make because of the people that we have and the plan that's been laid out,” Venable said. “I know people over there in that organization have done a great job. We're hoping to do the same thing here.”