32-year old righty reliever Josh Kinney has been really solid in AAA for the White Sox. Kinney has pitched in 30 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 2-2 with 8 saves, a 2.87 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Kinney has whiffed 45 batters while only walking 10 of them in 37 2/3 innings this year in AAA. Kinney has pitched in 45 games (0 starts) in parts of three years in the majors and he is 1-0 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Kinney will likely get a chance to help out the White Sox’ bullpen at some point in 2011 if he keeps pitching like he is right now.

33-year old lefty swinging LF Juan Pierre is on thin ice with the White Sox. Everyone in the organization, but manager Ozzie Guillen, wants to bench Pierre and replace him in LF with Dayan Viciedo who is killing the ball in AAA. Pierre has been awful so far this June. Pierre has played in 19 games so far this June and he is 17 for 80 (.213 avg, .530 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer, 3 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Pierre has played in 75 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 76 for 303 (.251 avg, .605 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 1 homer, 16 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Pierre has also been caught stealing 9 times already this year as he is having a rough time all the way around in 2011.

The White Sox have placed 26-year old lefty starting pitcher John Danks on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained right oblique muscle. Danks has started 15 games for the White Sox this year and he is 3-8 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He really got going in the right direction in June though after a very rough start to the 2011 season. Danks started 4 games in June and he was 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. The White Sox have called up 23-year old lefty Hector Santiago to work in long relief. Santiago has pitched in 14 games (all starts) in A+AA-ball this year and he is 6-5 with a 4.08 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He has now pitched in 144 games (15 starts) in his first five years in the minors and he is 20-16 with 4 saves, a 3.78 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. This will be Santiago’s first taste of the major leagues.

All around baseball, when you mention Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk’s name, it’s associated with the Boston Red Sox. But, Fisk played more years for the White Sox (13-11) than with the Red Sox. Fisk’s best year (in my opinion) with the White Sox was 1985. In 1985, Fisk played in 153 games at the age of 37 and he was 129 for 543 (.238 avg, .808 OPS) with 85 runs scored, 37 homers, 107 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He was an All-Star in 1985 and he also won a Silver Slugger Award and he was 13th in the MVP voting in the A.L. Fisk played in 1,421 games in his 13 years with the White Sox and he was 1,259 for 4,896 (.257 avg, .766 OPS) with 649 runs scored, 214 homers, 762 RBIs and 67 stolen bases. Fisk is 10th in White Sox’ history in games played with 1,421. He’s also #4 in homers (214) and #7 in RBIs (762) in Pale Hose’ history. Fisk won 4 Silver Slugger Awards and he was a A.L. All-Star 4 times while with the White Sox. Remember when you see a Red Sox fan to claim Fisk as a White Sox player, as he was with them longer.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher John Danks has been on fire for the White Sox so far in June. Danks has started 3 games for the Pale Hose so far in June and he is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Danks has whiffed 17 batters while only walking 3 in his 22 innings so far in June. Danks has now pitched in 14 games (all starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 3-8 with a 4.29 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. You have to figure that Danks was going to turn things around at some point, because he was too talented to keep pitching the way he was the first two months of the season.