Pregame notes: Corey Julks is making the most of it

Corey Julks is hitting .293/.369/.483 through 17 games in a White Sox uniform, and his furious start is why he's leading off again on Sunday. Though in many ways, he does not resemble a typical leadoff hitter.

Julks came to the White Sox after posting a .297 on-base percentage in his rookie season with his hometown Houston Astros last year. The 28-year-old outfielder's swing is geared for pull power, he is no fan of deep counts and he is no stranger to attacking the first pitch, as he proved with his leadoff homer Wednesday at Wrigley Field.

"I knew I was getting a fastball obviously, first pitch of the game," Julks said. "But it was up in the zone where I was looking for right there, especially off of [Jameson Taillon]. It was there, so I took a swing on it."

But there's a cold logic to what might look like hot-blooded aggression from the outside. Julks reasons that the hittable fastballs in the zone pitchers use to get ahead in the count will come early, and he doesn't want to let them sneak by.

"The deeper you get into the counts, the nastier the pitches tend to be," Julks said. "You want to try to get them early but you also don't want to chase. Pick a zone, hunt that zone and if it's there, especially early, go get it. Because later on in ABs, pitches tend to get a little tougher."

This mentality is interesting to hear especially because Julks' minor league career is full of stretches where he's touted a double-digit walk rate, and once more he's drawn seven free passes in 65 plate appearances with the White Sox.

"Most guys that have walked a lot; they are aggressive," said hitting coach Marcus Thames. "They are hunting their pitch. And if it’s not there, they can shut down on it. That’s a good sign of a good hitter."

The other side of the page is that later in the count--especially with two strike--is when Julks anticipates seeing more breaking balls, particularly putaway sliders on the outer half from pitchers looking to avoid his pull-side pop. That's when he shifts from trying to explode on fastballs in his hitting zone, to trying to give himself an extra fraction of a second to react to what he's seeing.

"The approach might switch a little bit," Julks said of two-strike situations. "You want to see a little deeper. Typically they end up throwing a little more spin once they're ahead of you. So I try to look more to the right side of the field so I can pick up the spin a little better, but I also never want to get off the fastball."

So far, it's worked well enough to give Julks a foothold in a White Sox outfield situation that might not always remain this flexible.

-- Mike Clevinger didn't throw his scheduled bullpen on Friday. But he threw it on Saturday as he works back from inflammation in his pitching elbow.

"They pushed him back one day for no specific reason, but he's throwing today," said Pedro Grifol.

Well, all right, I guess! Grifol said earlier that multiple rehab outings will be needed before Clevinger returns to the White Sox rotation.

--Tommy Pham (left ankle sprain) and Andrew Benintendi (left Achilles tendinitis) are both taking batting practice and both running again. And they will both get at-bats at the team complex in Arizona during the next road trip. Benintendi is eligible to be activated on Wednesday and Pham on Thursday, and while Grifol didn't map out specific timelines for either, their returns wouldn't seem far behind those dates. Hence my urgency to rush out some appreciation for Julks.

--Paul DeJong appeared on The Score recently and aired what most people would appreciate as a healthy attitude about likely getting traded next month. The 30-year-old shortstop said he wanted to play well so that he can go to a good contending team, and also bring back value to a White Sox team that gave him an opportunity to play regularly and prove himself again.

Understandably, the phrasing of the question leading with "DeJong looks forward to getting traded," gave Grifol a bit of pause, but eventually led to some discussion of how he's handling the front office having goals that run counter to winning everyday.

"To execute a trade in the big leagues, it takes a little bit of time on both sides, especially when there's really good players involved, so I'm not focused on that," Grifol said. "Things happen quickly up [in the front office]. Sometimes I’ll know everything. Sometimes I won’t. I’m 100 percent good with that. Just because there are so many things that happen throughout the day up in that office. I’ve experienced that. I know what goes on up there and how fast things change. Sometimes the communication doesn’t get down here as quick as you would want it. But we are all in this thing together."

--This is Luis Robert Jr.'s scheduled off day.

First Pitch: White Sox vs. Red Sox

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