Month in a Box: The White Sox in June 2025

The rule of thumb for avoiding early-season panic is that when the Chicago weather warms up, the White Sox offense will heat up along with it.

The 2025 White Sox offense had other ideas.

The White Sox hit just .224/.296/.348 in June, which is both a step back from what they put forth in May (.231/.299/.360), and also one of the least productive Junes in franchise history since the Dead Ball Era. The 2015 White Sox are the only modern edition to score fewer than the 88 runs the 2025 White Sox scored this month, and you have to go back to the Year(s) of the Pitcher in the late 1960s to find lower batting averages or slugging percentages.

The White Sox scored fewer than four runs in half of their 26 games, and went 2-11 under those conditions. That means they went 8-5 when putting forth an above-average effort, and when you consider that both the rotation and bullpen were middle of the pack despite Martín Pérez's $3.5 million salary being the biggest commitment on the pitching side, there might be reason to feel genuinely encouraged about the development. The offense just struggles to provide any sort of normal context for what constitutes a winning effort on the run-prevention side.

Somehow, two teams scored fewer runs than the White Sox this June. You'll notice a common thread:

1. Guardians, 72
2. Royals, 85
3. White Sox, 88
4. Nationals, 102
5. Braves, 104

So perhaps Chris Getz's belief that the AL Central will provide a faster track to contention isn't so misguided after all.

WHITE SOX TEAM PERFORMANCE

• Record: 10-16
• Standings: Fifth, 24½ GB
• Longest winning streak: 3, June 5-7
• Longest losing streak: 8, June 11-19
• Largest margin of victory: 7, June 3 vs. Detroit
• Largest margin of defeat: 12, June 2 vs. Detroit

HITTING LEADERS

• Batting average: .319, Kyle Teel
• On-base percentage: .421, Teel
• Slugging percentage: .466, Andrew Benintendi
• wRC+: 139, Teel
• Home runs: 4, Benintendi
• RBI: 12, Luis Robert Jr.
• Walks: 12, Chase Meidroth
• Strikeouts: 22, Robert
• Stolen bases: 3, Miguel Vargas
• fWAR: 0.6, Teel

PITCHING LEADERS

• Wins: 2, Adrian Houser, Shane Smith, Jordan Leasure
• Losses: 3, Tyler Alexander
• ERA: 2.64, Houser
• Innings: 30⅔, Houser
• Strikeouts: 23, Houser and Burke
• Appearances: 12, Brandon Eisert
• Relief innings: 15⅔, Alexander
• fWAR: 0.7, Houser

COMING AND GOING

• White Sox debuts: Owen White, Kyle Teel, Tyler Alexander, Grant Taylor, Ryan Noda, Aaron Civale, Wikelman González, Jake Palisch
• White Sox departures: Andrew Vaughn
• Going up: Freeman, Tim Elko, White(2x), Taylor, Brooks Baldwin, González, Palisch
• Going down: Freeman, Korey Lee, White(2x), Bryse Wilson, Baldwin, Joshua Palacios, Elko, Palisch, González

#SOXMORGUE

• Jonathan Cannon: Lower back strain
• Lenyn Sosa: Right hip flexor strain
• Davis Martin: Right forearm strain
• Cam Booser: Left shoulder strain
• Luis Robert Jr.: Left hamstring strain

White Sox Honors

Most Valuable Player: Kyle Teel

Given the immense struggles of the White Sox lineup as a whole, you could forgive a rookie for having just as much trouble treading water over his first dozen or so games, but Teel hit .319/.421/.404 over 57 plate appearances, finishing the month by tormenting the Giants with a 7-for-12 series. The 28 percent strikeout rate needs to come down, Edgar Quero is ahead of him in game-calling and they both have plenty of ground to gain in receiving, but like Quero before him, Teel spent his first month making it easy to see how it'll eventually come together.

Least Valuable Player: Josh Rojas

Rojas hit just .194/.247/.254, and although the defense is getting steadier, it's not the kind that can stave off a Colson Montgomery audition whenever he looks worthy of one. The backpicks are sweet, though.

Most Valuable Pitcher: Adrian Houser

Seven games into his White Sox career, the only one that fell short of a quality start was one where he was under the weather, and even then, he threw five innings of three-run ball against Texas. He's averaging six innings per start, and the White Sox are somehow 4-3 in when he takes the mound despite giving him 14 total runs of support. Both the White Sox's 1-0 victories have come with Houser on the mound, including his seven shutout innings against the Giants on June 28.

Least Valuable Pitcher: Shane Smith

Smith wasn't actually that bad in June, as his 5.60 ERA for the month covered two very good starts (one run over his first 11⅓ innings) and two bad ones (11 runs over his last 6⅓). It's a bigger version of Jonathan Cannon's June, as his stiff back limited him to a pair of three-inning outings, only one of which was useful. Smith gets points for taking the ball, but these honors typically avoid adding insult to injury, and the other healthy arms did a better job of giving the White Sox more on average.

Fire Man: Grant Taylor

By the end of his first month in the majors, Taylor emerged as the team's best option in high leverage. He gained a share of the team lead in saves with two, including a six-out save as a one-man bullpen in relief of Houser against San Francisco on June 28. Don't ask how that strategy fared his next time out. We're only talking about June here.

Gas Can: Jordan Leasure

The White Sox bullpen started coagulating as a unit in June. Its 3.38 ERA was good for 12th in baseball while its 3.86 FIP was 15th, and both are respectable marks for such a ragtag group. Most of the pitchers who struggled were churned out in short order, so that leaves Leasure, who was scored upon in six of 10 outings in June. He's no longer trusted with small leads, but it's still hurting his running Win Probability Added score, as he has the fifth-worst WPA in baseball at -1.23. Two of the four pitchers ahead of them are teammates who are no longer on the roster, due to injury or ineffectiveness (Cam Booser, Penn Murfee).

Bench Player: Michael A. Taylor

The White Sox are still in that mode where any productive bench player gets thrust into the regular lineup in short order, but Taylor had the fourth-most plate appearances of any player who is regularly called upon to appear in the outfield, and he produced the second-highest OPS of any Sox hitter in June, so he qualifies here. He batted .260/.351/.440 with a couple homers and seven RBIs, including an 8-for-19 performance against lefties, which makes it a lot easier to know when to play him.

Stench Player: Ryan Noda

The latest position player to be claimed from another organization and given a surprising amount of run his production doesn't support, Noda went 3-for-27 over his first 13 games with the White Sox after the claimed him off waivers from Boston. He also showed that he shouldn't play the outfield when he made a costly miscalculation on a diving attempt that allowed the decisive runs to score in a 3-1 loss to the Giants on June 27.

Gold Glove: Luis Robert Jr.

He still isn't hitting, and due to the paucity of chances, he only attempted two steals over the entire month of June, but at least Robert can still go and get it in the outfield, whether it's coming in...

... or going back:

He led the team in Outs Above Average with 3, and it passed the eye test.

Hands of Stone: Lenyn Sosa

On the other side of the leaderboard, Sosa finished last in Outs Above Average at -4. Range is a problem at second base, and he also made a couple of poor decisions at first.

Timeline

It's a zero-sum game: Glass half empty, the White Sox opened the month by being swept in Baltimore. Glass half full, the Orioles opened the month by sweeping the White Sox, putting them on track for a 16-11 June that finally had them resembling their projected form. (June 1)

First to 78 wins: The Chicago Fire announce plans to build a 22,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in the South Loop plot that the White Sox had been eyeing for a new ballpark. The White Sox respond by saying the facilities are not mutually exclusive, but Joe Mansueto's willingness to foot the bill for the construction of the non-infrastructure elements of the stadium set his bid apart. (June 3)

Foreshadowing: An injury to Lenyn Sosa, combined with enough positional versatility elsewhere, provide the opportunity for the White Sox to recall a first baseman, rather than a defender of equal utility. They opt for Tim Elko rather than Andrew Vaughn. (June 4)

A typical one-run loss: The White Sox claw back from an immediate 4-0 deficit to tie the game after five, but lose by one run when Andrew Benintendi can't get to a catchable Colt Keith double. (June 4)

It's still charming: The Birmingham Barons return to the 115-year-old Rickwood Field for the Rickwood Classic as a standalone minor league game for the first time since 2019. (June 4)

The very, very, very gradual end of an era: The White Sox announce a formal plan for a transition of controlling interest in the team from Jerry Reinsdorf to Justin Ishbia. It starts with Ishbia making "capital infusions" as a limited partner in 2025 and 2026, and Reinsdorf having the first opportunity to sell the interest in 2029. (June 5)

Elk-off: Tim Elko marks the first game of the Controlling Interest Transition Era with a walk-off single in the 10th inning to beat the Tigers, 3-2. (June 5)

Teel Time: On the same day that that CHSN goes live on Comcast (while darkening the over-the-air broadcasts), the White Sox supply the previously frozen-out audience with Kyle Teel's major league debut in front of a capacity crowd of 36,916 on Mexican Heritage Night. (June 6)

The bullpen car is an Uber: In another example of the White Sox creating jobs on the fly, Tyler Alexander signs with the White Sox at noon, rides an hour and a half from Milwaukee, warms up in the bullpen during the third inning, then takes the mound in the fourth inning in front of a defense he hasn't introduced himself to yet. He throws three innings of one-run long relief despite the uncertainty. James was in Milwaukee around the same time, talking to Gavin Sheets. He would've given him a ride. (June 8)

Taylor Time: The White Sox add another top prospect to the 26-man roster by calling up Grant Taylor to the bullpen, which they telegraphed by taking him out of the Birmingham rotation. His first pitch is clocked at 101.5 mph, the fastest thrown by a White Sox pitcher all year. (June 9)

More stylish than the zucchetto: For a brief moment, Pope Leo XIV wears a classic black White Sox cap presented to him by a Massachusetts couple who traveled to Rome for their honeymoon. (June 11)

A couple feet short: Miguel Vargas' bid to saddle Josh Hader with his first blown save of the season hits the top of the left field wall of the Crawford Boxes in Houston. He settles for a two-out double, and Austin Slater strikes out to seal another one-run loss. (June 12)

Vaughn gone: Andrew Vaughn spends the last weeks of his White Sox career in Charlotte, as the White Sox trade him to Milwaukee for Aaron Civale. (June 13)

When losing the DH goes wrong: No stranger to emptying the bench, Will Venable finally faces the worst-case scenario when Tyler Alexander is required to hit for himself in the 10th inning against the Rangers because the White Sox lost the DH when Venable pinch-ran for Edgar Quero to force Kyle Teel behind the plate, and a subsequent series of moves used up their other bench players. That said, it registers more as "unfortunate" than "embarrassing," because the previous moves were how the game got to extra innings in the first place. (June 14)

Gifts of equal value: Will Venable earns his second ejection of the season on Father's Day. His first ejection of the season was on Mother's Day. (June 15)

A troubling sign: A bullpen collapse results in a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals, which extends the White Sox's losing streak to seven games while tarnishing their record in one-run games further to 4-20. In the middle of it all, Luis Robert Jr. lays down the first sacrifice bunt of his career while batting in front of Ryan Noda, who just got here. (July 19)

The longest 30 yards: The White Sox then drop their eighth straight game in a 10-inning loss to the Cardinals. Andrwe Benintendi's game-tying grand slam only delays the inevitable, with Mike Tauchman once again injuring himself between third and home, this time on a contact play. (June 19)

Welcome to Charlotte: After 28 starts with Double-A Birmingham, Noah Schultz makes his Triple-A debut and gives up six runs over 5⅓ innings in a loss to Gwinnett. (June 19)

A fleeting glimpse: Luis Robert Jr. unloads on a cement mixer by Mason Fluharty and launches it some 441 feet out to left at Rogers Centre during a 7-1 White Sox victory in Toronto, for the longest and hardest-hit Sox homer of the year, as well as John Schriffen's cringiest call. (June 20)

Good neighbours: The White Sox defend their way to a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays for a series victory in Toronto, taking just their second road series of the year. (June 22)

Vinny, vidi, ieci: Vinny Capra pitches for the third time this month, all double-digit losses, in a 10-0 drubbing courtesy of the Diamondbacks. (June 23)

Fan misconduct: Ketel Marte is shown crying during a pitching change during the Diamondbacks' 4-1 victory over Arizona, after which it's revealed that the cause was a heckler referencing his mother, who died in a car accident in 2017. The White Sox responded with a supportive scoreboard message in the next game. (June 24)

Right of passage: Will Venable truly becomes the manager of the White Sox when he starts a first baseman in right field for the first time in his career. Sure enough Ryan Noda's ill-advised dive on what would've been a bases-loading single turns into the decisive two-run triple in a 3-1 loss to San Francisco. (June 27)

Stopping short: Chase Meidroth generates the rare positive White Sox highlight that circulates around the greater baseball world with a clever stop-and-go slide to salvage what should've been a doomed stolen base attempt. The White Sox beat the Giants 5-2 for a series victory. (June 29)

Signs of life: Colson Montgomery rises from the dead against Toledo, earning International League Player of the Week honors by going 11-for-22 with four homers in five games against the Mud Hens. (June 24-29)

Atlanta-bound: While it's still difficult to determine which White Sox will be named the mandatory All-Star, the Futures Game representatives are set with Noah Schultz and Braden Montgomery. (June 30)