The Chicago White Sox have smartly brought together a collection of international talents, veteran reclamation projects and frisky young prospects this season. But anyone who suggests they believed this team would actually be comfortably above .500 and challenging for the division lead in early June is … well … a lying liar.A remarkable number of things have needed to go well for the Sox to find themselves in their current position in the standings. It’s a team full of surprises. Miguel Vargas is cruising toward a 20-HR/20-SB season with an OPS of .869, and he is probably not even one of the five craziest stories on this team.Amid the various South Side breakouts, the achievements of 24-year-old Grant Taylor shouldn’t go unnoticed. It’s no exaggeration to say that Taylor is as good as any non-Mason Miller reliever in baseball. You might reasonably question whether guys like Vargas, Davis Martin, Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami can continue their early-season performance, but Taylor’s talent is simply undeniable.Let’s check the tape from his perfect ninth inning against the Phillies on Saturday:
Grant Taylor, K’ing the Side in the 9th pic.twitter.com/eAizlviLia
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 6, 2026The fastball reached triple-digits; the curve was diabolical, and that slider to Schwarber was cartoonishly unhittable. Taylor has the arsenal of an elite starter and the velocity of a top-tier closer. It’s really no surprise that he’s delivered dead ball era ratios of 50 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.Taylor has become one of those rare non-closing relievers who demands to be rostered pretty much everywhere. Seranthony Dominguez has been an acceptable ninth-inning option this season, saving 11 games while producing a 1.17 WHIP, but he’s not capable of actual wizardry.If the Sox ever make a permanent closing switch, Taylor would immediately vault to the upper range of the rest-of-season pitcher ranks.Jac Caglianone deserves a better stat lineIf you’re searching for a shorthand way to assess the most dangerous hitters in the game, I’d recommend scanning the leaderboard in hard-hit rate. It isn’t necessarily a perfect indicator of future production, but, invariably, it delivers a good list of names. Generally speaking, we like players who make loud contact with great frequency. Last year’s Statcast leaders in hard-hit rate — the percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or more — were Kyle Schwarber (59.6%), Shohei Ohtani (58.4%) and Aaron Judge (58.2%).Looking at the current MLB leaders in the category, we undoubtedly find a collection of maulers and breakout stars. But delightfully enough, there’s also a guy who landed on your fantasy league’s waiver wire three weeks ago:
