The White Sox brought themselves back to a game above .500 after a rough road trip, and will aim to defeat the Minnesota Twins for the eighth time in a row tonight. Sean Burke had himself an excellent April — 2.73 ERA in 29 2/3 innings — but has fallen flat this month, holding a 5.59 ERA in May across 19 1/3 frames. The righty still has plenty of positives: a walk rate in the 84th percentile (6.3%), a solid 33.1% whiff rate, and limiting barrels to 6.3% of the time, 22% less than the MLB average (8.1%).
It would be most ideal if the offense could back Burke up with some insurance runs, but the South Siders will have to face a tough opponent with righthander Joe Ryan on the mound for Minnesota. Ryan might be able to exploit his strong 27.1% strikeout rate since the Good Guys hold the second-highest K% in all of baseball (24.5%). I, however, would prefer if they could take advantage of Ryan’s 10.2% average barrel rate, which ranks in the 23rd percentile in MLB, as the White Sox have posted the fifth-best barrel rate at 9.8% and are tied with the Braves for second in team home runs (72).
Speaking of homers, three of the first four guys in the lineup account for 60% (43) of the team’s 72 bombs: Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery. Players like Sam Antonacci and Chase Meidroth help balance out the lineup at the top and middle of the order with their ability to get on base, and both hold the highest batting averages on the team (minimum 60 plate appearances). And I’d be remiss not to mention newly arrived prospect Rikuu Nishida, who so far only has three at-bats but was a significant part of Monday’s win with his excellent defense and positive energy.
Ryan is 3-3 on the season in 11 starts (56 2/3 innings) with a 3.02 ERA, though his FIP is closer to a 2.50, potentially due to very mediocre defense from the Twins, who are tied with the White Sox and Tigers for eighth-most errors in baseball (28).
The Twins might have traded everyone away last year, but they still have some decent power in their lineup, especially at the top of the order with Byron Buxton and Brooks Lee. Buxton is slugging .579 with a .901 OPS this season, and has previously hit a home run off of Burke. Lee was the one who struck yesterday with a homer in the first off of Anthony Kay, but hopefully, Burke can shut him down today.
First pitch on the South Side at the Rate will take place at 6:40 p.m. CT on a beautiful evening, with temperatures around 77º at game time. Tune in to the usual broadcast locations: either CHSN (TV) or ESPN Chicago AM 1000 (radio). Time for back-to-back Ws!