Pregame notes: It has been [0] days since last White Sox bullpen change

After two games with hairiness in the later innings, it was only a matter of time before a current White Sox reliever would find himself on the transaction wire.

Lucas Sims, step on down. And then out, probably.

The White Sox designated Sims for assignment, purchasing the contract of right-handed relief prospect Tyler Davis from Charlotte to take his place. Sims departs having allowed seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and seven walks over 10 innings and nine games pitched. None of those appearances was singularly as ugly or Will-Venable-face-palm inducing as Osvaldo Bido's White Sox debut on Tuesday, but Sims timed his latest unimpressive outing when three other relievers were required, and two of them labored, and thus the search for the vaunted fresh arm began anew.

Enter Davis, whose arrival to the majors is the culmination of an unusual journey that started at Sam Houston State, where he was a two-way player who went undrafted after his senior season and signed with the Oakland Ballers of the independent Pioneer League. After a great first week of the 2024 season, the then-25-year-old switched Ballers, with the White Sox signing him and rostering him with the Kannapolis Cannon variety. It's been a steady climb since, with stops at all four affiliates and an Arizona Fall League assignment sprinkled in.

James wrote about Davis' under-the-radar ascent last October, and I'm glad he did, because my in-person looks at Davis the last two years haven't impressed; a far lower-stakes version of the Luis Robert-Keith Law dynamic. True to form, Davis' season line doesn't stand out, but it's a little easier to see what the Sox see if you remove his first two appearances of the season, which I witnessed during Charlotte's first full series of the season in Nashville.

I suppose we'll see whether my watching on TV has the same effect, or whether it can be chalked up to the debilitating pressure of my outsized physical presence in the stands.

Whenever Davis does pitch, he will be the 39th player utilized by the White Sox this season, and the 17th relief pitcher (Reese McGuire doesn't count). One wonders how much Chris Getz and Co. are watching what Peyton Pallette is doing with Cleveland and wondering if they made this way too hard on themselves.

If you haven't been watching Pallette, he just picked up his first career victory with a scoreless eighth inning against Houston on Tuesday. It wasn't in the typical leverage situation that "victory with a scoreless eighth inning" suggests, as he entered with the Guardians trailing by two, and then they scored six in the bottom of the eighth. Still, he's shown an early ability to bounce back from rocky outings, and so he's clearing the Rule 5 bar with room to spare thus far: 10.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 11 K, 2 HBP.

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A reminder of today's stakes: Munetaka Murakami has homered in five straight games. He owns a share of the MLB rookie record with Ron Kittle, and they own shares of the White Sox record with five other players (A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Frank Thomas and Greg Luzinski).

With a homer today, Murakami would hold both records outright, and then it'd be all about his place in the standard MLB context from that point forward. He'd become the 42nd player in MLB history to homer in at least six consecutive games. Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly and Dale Long are tied for the record with eight.

Murakami is batting second today. It's not quite Chuck Tanner writing Bill Melton's name in the leadoff spot during the final games of the 1971 season to maximize his chances of winning the AL home run title, but it's the next-closest thing.

Colson Montgomery has homered in four straight games, and he and Murakami are already the only teammates to have concurrent streaks of at least four games, so they're in uncharted territory. Should Montgomery extend his streak while Murakami falters, you can apply all of the aforementioned non-rookie information to him.

Miguel Vargas, who has homered in three consecutive days, is waiting for his moment in the spotlight, because the White Sox are the third team with three three-game streaks simultaneously.

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Tasked with stopping them is Old Friend Michael Soroka, who brings his own streak into the afternoon. New to Arizona after signing a one-year, $7.5 million contrast this past winter, he's won all four games he's started as a Diamondback. He's pitched 22 ⅔ innings over those games, with 28 strikeouts against 27 baserunners -- 18 hits, six walks, three HBPs.

That last number has to be accounted for, because Soroka led the National League with 15 HBPs despite throwing just 89 ⅔ innings last year. Only Luis Severino bested him, but the Sacramento righty issued just one more HBP over 73 additional innings. Today's challenge for Sam Antonacci is to get plunked twice.

Davis Martin doesn't have Soroka's strikeout total or 1.000 winning percentage, but he's running right alongside him otherwise. He's 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA over 25 innings, including three consecutive starts of at least six innings, and two straight starts with seven. Adrian Houser managed to complete seven innings in three consecutive starts last year, so that's who's on the next rung of the ladder.

First Pitch: White Sox at Diamondbacks

TV: CHSN

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