Lucas Giolito named AL Player of the Week, AL Pitcher of the Month

White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito has earned league-wide honors for his recent dominant stretch.

Giolito was named American League Player of the Week after winning both his starts on the Sox's most recent homestand. The right-hander defeated both the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians, allowing only three earned runs over 15.1 innings. He struck out 19 and walked one in those two outings.

Giolito also was named AL Pitcher of the Month for May. He went 5-0 with a 1.74 ERA over six starts in the month, including a four-hit shutout against the AL West-leading Houston Astros.

For the season, Giolito is 8-1 with a 2.54 ERA. He has struck out 78, walked 20 and allowed only 44 hits in 67.1 innings pitched.

It's been quite a turnaround for Giolito, who had a league-worst 6.13 ERA in 2018. The Sox have needed it, too, as no other starting pitcher on the 25-man roster has an ERA lower than 4.73 this season. Three of the Sox's five starters have ERAs over 6 entering Tuesday's play.

White Sox first-round draft pick: California 1B Andrew Vaughn

I've never seen Andrew Vaughn play a baseball game in my life, so I won't pretend to have a great scouting report on the guy the White Sox picked Monday with the No. 3 overall pick in the MLB draft.

I will say this pick represents a continuation of the Sox's philosophy to take polished collegiate hitters -- past first-round picks Zack Collins, Jake Burger and Nick Madrigal also fit that mode. As we're all aware, the Sox have had mixed results with those three players, and none of them has made the major leagues yet.

Will Vaughn be the guy? We can hope, and there's plenty to like with his college statistics. He won the Golden Spikes Award last season as a sophomore, when he hit 23 homers, and he's a candidate to win the award again this year as a junior. His slash line is .381/.544/.716 with 14 doubles and 15 home runs in 52 games. Teams are obviously pitching around him -- he has 59 walks and only 33 strikeouts this season.

His on-base percentage has never dipped below .530 in either of the past two seasons at Cal, so he's basically turned the odds of the game on their ear. Usually, it's the pitcher who has a much better chance of success in any pitcher-batter confrontation. Vaughn? He reaches base more than 50 percent of the time consistently.

In case you were wondering if his power will transfer to wood bats, he had five home runs in 14 games in the Cape Cod League last summer, so, yeah, there are reasons to believe this guy is going to hit.

What's not to like? Well, he's a right-handed hitting first baseman. He's not that big -- 6 feet tall and 214 pounds. He'll provide no defensive utility and little baserunning prowess, so he has to hit and hit a lot to be a successful player.

The other thing is, the Sox system already is loaded with guys who might need to move to first base, including incumbent left fielder Eloy Jimenez. Some believe Collins needs to move from catcher to first base, and some believe the oft-injured Burger needs to move from third base to first base. And, the Sox invested a second-round pick a couple years back in Gavin Sheets, who is playing first base at Double-A Birmingham.

How many first base candidates do you need? The Sox have plenty, but the hope has to be that Vaughn will be on a fast track to emerge as the cream of the crop at that position.

White Sox finish 6-1 on homestand vs. Royals, Indians

Jose Abreu

The White Sox finished 6-1 on their just-completed seven-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians. They haven't had a homestand this successful since 2010.

After sweeping Kansas City, the Sox (29-30) took three out of four games from the Indians (29-30) to move into a second-place tie. In doing so, they overcame a couple of pitching matchups that didn't look too promising coming into the series.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Thursday, May 30
White Sox 10, Indians 4: Cleveland right-hander Carlos Carrasco had made two previous starts against the Sox this season, and he won them both. In fact, he was unscored upon in 12 innings. So, it didn't look too good for the Sox with Carrasco starting against left-hander Manny Banuelos.

Surprise! The Sox cuffed Carrasco around for six runs on 10 hits over 6.1 innings, then blew the game open with four more runs off reliever Dan Otero.

Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso both homered, and Leury Garcia and Eloy Jimenez each had three-hit games. Jimenez's two-run double in the second inning started the Sox's scoring. Alonso's two-run homer in the third put them ahead to stay.

Banuelos (3-4) was good enough. He allowed three runs on five hits over 5.1 innings. For a guy with a 7.36 ERA, you take that.

Friday, May 31
White Sox 6, Indians 1: Once again, the starting pitching matchup didn't look favorable. The Indians were throwing their best healthy pitcher in Trevor Bauer, while the Sox were countering with the winless Dylan Covey.

Surprise! Covey (1-4) isn't winless anymore. He gave up a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor in the first inning, but no other runs over six innings pitched. He allowed eight hits, but managed to pitch around them.

Meanwhile, Cleveland committed four errors, causing Bauer to give up four unearned runs (and two additional earned runs) over seven innings.

Charlie Tilson paced the Sox offense with two hits, including a two-run double in the bottom of the third that put the South Siders ahead to stay.

Saturday, June 1
Indians 5, White Sox 2: There has to be a rotten apple in every bunch, right? Sox starter Ivan Nova (3-5) wasn't terrible, but a couple home runs by left-handed hitters hurt him. Carlos Santana broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a solo home run, and Leonys Martin added a two-run shot in the seventh for a 4-1 Indians lead.

The Sox could not overcome that deficit as they managed only four hits against a hodgepodge of six Cleveland pitchers. Reliever Oliver Perez (1-0) retired all five batters he faced in the fifth inning and at the start of the sixth inning to get the win for the Tribe. Brad Hand worked an easy ninth for his 16th save.

Jimenez had two hits for the Sox, including a double, but not much else was going on.

Sunday, June 2
White Sox 2, Indians 0: Lucas Giolito (8-1) did it again, improving to 6-0 with a 1.03 ERA over his past six starts. He went 7.1 innings, allowing only five hits and no walks. He struck out nine. Aaron Bummer got a double play ball to end the eighth inning, and Alex Colome worked around a leadoff double by Lindor in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the season.

It wasn't easy for Giolito, as he pitched with no margin for error thanks to a strong start by Cleveland rookie Zach Plesac (0-1), who tossed seven innings of one-run ball.

That one run was a 429-foot homer by Tim Anderson, his ninth of the season, in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Anderson's two-out RBI double, which scored Yolmer Sanchez.

The satisfying win should make for a pleasant off day Monday for the Sox, who just completed a busy stretch of 36 games in 37 days. They have a brief two-game series in Washington against the Nationals on Tuesday and Wednesday, before another off day on Thursday.

Weird schedule this season, huh?

Why the White Sox shouldn't trade Alex Colome or James McCann

Alex Colome

We're about a month away from trade talks heating up, and no doubt, some people are going to be calling for the White Sox to trade useful veterans such as closer Alex Colome or catcher James McCann.

I would be opposed to such trades. Colome and McCann are what I like to call "young veterans." Colome is 30 years old. McCann is 29. Neither is a kid, but neither is closed to washed up. They are in that window that you might call a player's prime -- ages 27 to 32.

They have value, but they aren't stars. You can get young players in a deal for them, but probably not premium prospects, and that's why the Sox should hold. Trading players similar to Colome and McCann has not been a strength for the Sox during this rebuild.

Let's forget about the deals of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton. Those guys are high-end players. The "next tier" type of trades are what we're talking about, and here are some past midseason Sox deals with guys who would fall in the category of young veterans:

• Traded David Robertson, Todd Frazier and Tommy Kahnle for Blake Rutherford, Tito Polo and Ian Clarkin.
• Traded Dan Jennings for Casey Gillaspie
• Traded Anthony Swarzak for Ryan Cordell
• Traded Melky Cabrera for A.J. Puckett and Andre Davis
• Traded Miguel Gonzalez for TiQuan Forbes
• Traded Joakim Soria for Kodi Medeiros and Wilber Perez
• Traded Luis Avilan for Felix Paulino
• Traded Xavier Cedeno for Bryan Connell and Johan Dominguez

There's eight trades on this list. The Sox acquired 13 players and only Cordell has made the majors. And I don't think any of us see Cordell as a long-term piece of the puzzle.

So, why would the Sox want to trade Colome and McCann for more "lottery tickets" such as the assorted busts on this list?

You look at where the Sox are right now: They have Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez in the lineup -- hopefully for good. Michael Kopech is coming back next season. Lucas Giolito is emerging. Reynaldo Lopez is going to be around. Dylan Cease and Luis Robert are on the way.

There's your young core, but you have to fill in around them. Not every roster spot can be filled by a prospect.

If you want to win in 2020 or 2021, you need a closer. Neither Ian Hamilton nor Zack Burdi have fulfilled that promise. Would you trust either of them to emerge? I would not. So keep Colome, who can do the job.

If you want to win in 2020 or 2021, you need a catcher. Do you trust either Zack Collins or Seby Zavala to handle a pitching staff on a contending club? Well, maybe you can have one of them on the roster, but it would be beneficial to have a veteran. I choose McCann over Welington Castillo.

At some point, you have to emerge from the "accumulating talent" stage and move to the "let's improve at the major league level" stage. I think the Sox are at that point. You can't just keep trading useful players for crap in perpetuity.

White Sox complete sweep of Royals in another wild game

Tim Anderson

There was a lot happening in the White Sox's 8-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

The Royals again hit Tim Anderson with a pitch -- in the head -- with an 86 mph changeup, so presumably that wasn't intentional. Kansas City pitcher Glenn Sparkman was ejected for throwing that pitch in the second inning, and the Sox made the Royals pay with a five-run rally -- capped off by Jose Abreu's 3-run homer -- to take an early 7-1 lead.

The Sox blew that whole thing thanks to some poor pitching and some questionable decision-making from the dugout. The Royals scored four runs in the sixth inning and two in the eighth to tie it.

Then Anderson put the Sox ahead to stay with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Hopefully, he didn't look at anybody funny while he was rounding first base, or else the Royals will be throwing at him again next time the two teams play.

After the game, Anderson said he doesn't like the Royals and was happy the Sox swept the three-game series. Can't blame him. Changeup or no, nobody likes to see a pitch coming at their head.

A few other takes from this eventful game:

1. The ejection of Sparkman wasn't fair to him, but it was probably the right thing for the umpire to do to maintain control of the game -- and future games between these two teams. That ejection establishes that even the appearance of a beanball is going to be dealt with harshly. If Sparkman isn't ejected there, who is to say the Sox don't retaliate? After all, Anderson has been hit twice -- at least once intentionally -- and no Royals have been hit intentionally at all. It's best to get ahead of the whole thing and put a stop to anymore vigilante justice.
2. Why was Reynaldo Lopez allowed to throw 118 pitches in this game? He gave up a two-run homer to Jorge Soler in the sixth, walked a guy and was fortunate to get a double play. Then he gives up a single, a triple and another single while running on fumes. All of a sudden, it was 7-5, and Lopez didn't make it through the sixth after all. You would think with all pitchers injured in the Sox organization, they would be a little more cautious with starters who are supposedly part of the present and future. What are the manager and the pitching coach doing?
3. Man, Kelvin Herrera is having a bad May. He had a 2.51 ERA on May 1. His ERA is now 7.48. That will happen when your ERA is 17.18 over your past nine outings. And Herrera gave up two runs in the eighth in the stupidest way possible Wednesday. He walked a light-hitting catcher, mishandled a bunt, didn't bother to check two speedy runners and gave up a double steal, and then gave up a two-run single with the infield drawn in. It might be time to stop using Herrera in high-leverage spots. He's been ineffective for a full month.
4. As bad as Herrera has been, that's how good Alex Colome has been. He had one win and two saves in this series, pitching three scoreless innings in a span of about 29 hours. Colome is 11 for 11 in save opportunities. He is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA for the season, and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in this series.

James McCann and Lucas Giolito: Winning combination for White Sox

James McCann

When the White Sox signed catcher James McCann this offseason, I did not like the move. And why would anyone?

McCann was a below-average catcher in 2018. He batted .220/.267/.314 with only eight home runs, 16 doubles and 39 RBIs in 118 games for the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers were one of the worst teams in the league -- only two wins better than the Sox at 64-98 -- and they chose not to offer McCann a contract.

Signing this player looked like the usual dumpster diving by the Sox front office. But for once, it appears Sox brass was right and I was wrong.

At the one-third mark of the season, McCann is hitting .350/.385/.528 with four home runs, 10 doubles and 12 RBIs. He's even got three stolen bases. Maybe his power numbers are so-so, but there's no arguing with that batting average and on-base percentage. He's been swinging the bat well since the season began.

And the Sox have been winning consistently when he starts behind the plate. Keep in mind this team is 25-29 overall. Here is the Sox's record with each starting catcher:

McCann: 18-12 (.600)
Welington Castillo: 7-16 (.304)
Seby Zavala: 0-1 (.000)
Total: 25-29 (.463)

Let's add one caveat here: McCann has caught all of Lucas Giolito's starts. The right-hander is 7-1 after his 4-3 win over the Royals on Tuesday night. In fact, Giolito has won each of his past five starts.

But isn't it interesting that Giolito's ERA has gone from 6.13 to 2.85 this season, and he's been quick to credit McCann for helping him make in-game adjustments during this career-best streak. Giolito has to make the pitches, yes, but his catcher is clearly helping him along.

McCann went 3 for 4 and scored the go-ahead run in Tuesday's win, so his bat is helping Giolito and other Sox pitchers as much as his game-calling.

No way is McCann going to hit .350 all year. His career slash line is .248/.295/.378. But even when the inevitable regression happens, McCann's numbers might be good enough to get an all-star nod in the American League this year.

The way he and Giolito are working together, they both might end up making the AL roster in mid-July.

Finally, Ivan Nova pitches well at Guaranteed Rate Field

Ivan Nova

White Sox starting pitcher Ivan Nova has three wins this season. He's managed to beat Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman and Gerrit Cole -- three pitchers you wouldn't expect him to outpitch. But outpitch them he did.

The other thing that stands out about Nova: All three of those wins have come on the road. Check out his home-and-road splits coming into Monday's game against the Kansas City Royals:

Home: 0-2, 16.36 ERA in three starts, 11 IP, 24 H, 20 ER, 8 Ks, 7 BBs, 5 HRs allowed
Road: 3-2, 4.57 ERA in seven starts, 43.1 IP, 55 H, 22 ERs, 27 Ks, 10 BBs, 6 HRs allowed

Honestly, that line in road games is probably what the Sox had hoped Nova's overall numbers would look like. It's his home numbers that have ruined everything, so his performance against the Royals on Monday was at least a step forward -- even though it came against a last-place team.

Nova pitched five innings, allowing one earned run on six hits. He struck out two, walked nobody and kept the ball in the yard for a change. The rains came in the bottom of the fifth inning, suspending the game until Tuesday and ending Nova's start early.

The Sox won, 2-1, Tuesday afternoon on a single by Yolmer Sanchez in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Nova's next start also will be at home, and again, he'll be pitching against a weaker lineup -- the Cleveland Indians. We'll see if he can get some traction and give the Sox at least one other reasonable starting pitcher besides Lucas Giolito.