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The Chicago White Sox have been one of the biggest surprises this season. Not many thought they would be a factor this year, but now everyone is on notice.
They are far more improved than what they showed the fans last season, largely thanks to Munetaka Murakami's presence. He's tied with Yordan Alvarez for most home runs on the American League side, but will be out of the race for a while.
On Friday, Murakami exited the game against the Detroit Tigers early, tweaking his hamstring while running down the basepath. An MRI revealed a Grade 2 right hamstring strain, and the slugger has been placed on the 10-day IL, while expecting to miss four to six weeks.
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White Sox crash the top ten after a dominant week against division foes
Losing Murakami is a big blow, but the team was still able to keep things under control over the weekend after he exited. The White Sox went 3-1 against the Minnesota Twins earlier in the week and then swept the Tigers, who have struggled as of late.
That's a huge week against teams in the division. With that, the White Sox have improved to 32-27, which is good enough for second place in the division, just one game behind the Cleveland Guardians.
With the week they had, and even while losing Murakami, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter has bumped this team from No. 17 last week to No. 10 in his latest power rankings.
"There is no shortage of evidence to show how vastly improved this White Sox team has been, but the most telling might be that they have yet to record a losing streak longer than three games. The Munetaka Murakami injury is a blow, but former first-round pick Jacob Gonzalez was hitting .317/.419/.668 with 19 home runs and 62 RBI through 52 games at Triple-A, and now he gets a chance to make his mark."
With Murakami down, the White Sox have called up Jacob Gonzalez, who has been tearing it up down in Triple-A. If he can produce in the big leagues as he did in Triple-A, the White Sox will be just fine.
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