McKnight: White Sox can stay hot once Abreu, Frazier warm up
I think you can make the argument that there is nothing more frustrating in the game of baseball than wasting good pitching. Just ask Mariners fans about watching Felix Hernandez' brilliance these past 10 years or so. Hernandez has never pitched in a post season game.
That's the macro level, though. That's zooming out 10,000 feet; feeling a long, dull lingering pain that can be medicated with the overall brilliance of a singular player. Worse, perhaps, is wasting the stellar pitching of an entire staff - rotation and bullpen - over the course of one season. That pain is more acute because it seems more immediately fixable, even if - especially if - we're unable to fix it ourselves.
The 2016 White Sox are symptom free when it comes to this particular problem. Stellar might not be a gaudy enough adjective to describe the effort the pitching staff has given this ballclub to start the season.
It didn't sneak up on us, this caliber of pitching. It has been there since, at least, the fade of 2012. Certainly the bullpen has gone through a complete reconstruction over the past four years but that glimmer - Chris Sale starts, Jose Quintana no decisions, Nate Jones heat, the near-miracle that was Hector Noesi's 2014 - has been there.
April has shown us two things about the White Sox. They will make plays. They can score late.
Making plays - the defense - is the more sustainable. I knew Todd Frazier had a good reputation as a third baseman. I had no idea he was this good. I figured Adam Eaton had a good shot at being a solid right fielder. I had no idea his athleticism and arm would play up to make him one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball through the first month.
Eaton, on our "White Sox Weekly" show last Saturday, said Austin Jackson has helped facilitate his transition to the corner. Having a center fielder with the steadiness and experience of Jackson gives Eaton a measure of trust in right. Eaton, having been there and done that in center, knows the job and what it can do for the other two roaming the outfield.
Having solidified the defense, our attention turns to the offense. Run support is an indivisible part of the whole "not wasting great pitching" thing. Ask Jose Quintana.
The best part about the offensive struggles this season might be the most head scratching. Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier aren't quite clicking yet. Sure, Frazier has hit for some power (6 home runs and 3 doubles) but his .457 SLG (through Friday) is 36 points off his March/April career mark of .493. (I feel compelled to mention here the near-home run that Nomar Mazara robbed in ninth of the final game against the Rangers.)
The reason the struggles of those two sluggers in the middle of the White Sox lineup are "the best part" is that Frazier and Abreu can be counted on to get back to their career norms. A player doesn't have two seasons of success to the level Abreu enjoyed in his first two seasons and then collapse. Frazier has shown that his power, while it comes with a bit of a swing-happy approach, exists in all situations. He's hit 4 of his 6 home runs in two-strike counts (two in 0-2, two in 1-2).
With the White Sox enjoying such a great April start, they've allowed their big bats the time to figure things out without the crushing pressure of depending wholly on them for runs. That's a blessing in disguise if there's ever been one.
With a heavy dose of divisional play coming up in May (seven against the Royals, three against the Indians) it would be a great time for both to find their form.
• Connor McKnight is the pregame and postgame host for Chicago White Sox games on WLS 890-AM. Follow him on Twitter @C1McKnight.