When the White Sox signed 43-year old switch hitting 2B/SS/3B Omar Vizquel they thought they wouldn’t need to use him a whole lot. He was brought in to pretty much mentor 2B Gordon Beckham and SS Alexei Ramirez. But when starting 3B Mark Teahan went down with a broken finger Vizquel found himself getting a lot of starts at 3B and he has been holding his own there. Vizquel has played in 33 games for the White Sox so far this season and he is 28 of 108 (.259 avg, .656 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see how the Hall of Fame voters handle Vizquel five years after he retires. He likely won’t get to 3,000 hits as he currently has 2,732. Vizquel also has 391 stolen bases and 11 Gold Gloves. His career resembles that of Ozzie Smith who made the Hall in his first year on the ballot.

Alex Rios got off to a little bit of a slow start this season for the Chicago White Sox, but his bat started heating up in the end of April and it has been hot ever since.  Rios had a 12 game hit streak end yesterday after failing to get a hit for the first time since April 25th.  Since that time Rios’ average has gone from .277 to .322.  Rios has had four multi-hit games already this month, including a 4/4 effort on Mothers’ Day.  Unfortunately that effort was wasted since Bobby Jenks collapsed in the 9th that day, but Rios has been the White Sox best hitter.  The opposition is aware of the way he is hitting the ball, but they haven’t been able to be too careful with him because homerun leader Paul Konerko is usually waiting in the on-deck circle to drive Rios in.  Rios and Konerko are the only two that have been hitting the ball well all season for the White Sox.  Rios has also been providing the Sox with a great glove out in centerfield and it looks like Rios is much more comfortable with the White Sox this season as compared to last.

When 33-year old righty swinging OF/DH Andruw Jones signed with the White Sox they weren’t expecting much out of him. At best, they saw him as a platoon DH with lefty swinging Mark Kotsay. But Jones is swinging such a hot stick right now that he has not been platooning anymore. Ozzie Guillen has been getting him full time at bats between the OF and DH lately and the manager’s faith in him is paying off big time so far. Jones has played in 15 games for the Pale Hose so far this season and he is 14 of 48 (.292 avg, 1.112 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 6 homers, 9 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Jones is still whiffing a lot (15) but he is also getting his share of walks (8) showing improving discipline at the plate. The White Sox need Jones’ power and they are going to ride his bat as long as they can.

Paul Konerko is one of the few Chicago White Sox players who is actually hitting the ball early in this 2010 season.  The White Sox have started the season off with an offensively challenged 5-9 start.  They need to start hitting the ball or they are going to dig themselves into too deep of a whole in the AL Central, where their rival Minnesota Twins are off to a hot 10-4 start.  Without Konerko’s strong bat, the White Sox would be in even bigger trouble than they are now.  Konerko has a .261 BA (12/46), but it is his power numbers that are making the difference.  Of his 12 hits, 5 of them have left the ballpark and he has 10 RBIs with a .630 SLG.  He has drawn 8 walks, helping his OBP get up over 100 points higher than his BA at .364 OBP.  This is a great sign for the White Sox since Konerko is known for getting off to very slow starts in years past.  Now only if some other White Sox players could start hitting the ball and driving in some runs.  There is only so much Konerko can do, so some other guys on that roster really need to step up.

The Chicago White Sox team batting average is only at .225 so far in this young season, and the offense was looking pretty ugly after having a nice 6-0 win over the Cleveland Indians in their season opener.  They went on to lose their next four games, averaging only 6 hits per contest during that losing streak and a measly 2.5 runs.  Well, in the past two games the White Sox bats have come alive and they have brought them two straight wins.  They beat the Twins on Sunday with 5 runs on 9 hits, including 2 doubles and 3 home runs.  They followed that with an extra-innings win last night against the Toronto Blue Jays.  Mark Teahen’s hitting is the reason the Sox won against the Blue Jays, as he was a double short of the cycle and drove in the game-tying and eventual game-winning run.  Teahen had only one hit coming into last night’s game, so it was a breakout game for him.  It looks like the Sox might start to reel off some wins with Teahen looking like he is out of his slump, Paul Konerko with 3 home runs and 7 RBIs already, and a few other White Sox hitters coming around.  This is a very good sign for the White Sox, especially since their pitching has looked very strong so far with a team ERA of 3.39, 1.30 whip, and 4 quality starts already.  The Sox got off to a slow start, but it looks like they are finally getting into a rhythm.