\n<\/p>\n
SEATTLE \u2014 The White Sox<\/u><\/a> have found some unlikely heroes while jumping to their best start in five years.<\/p>\n There was Derek Hill, the fourth outfielder-turned-pinch-hit-home run specialist<\/u><\/a>, setting down the division-rival Royals. There was Tristan Peters, the ex-Saluki and ex-Savannah Banana, crushing a tie-breaking homer<\/u><\/a> against the hated Cubs. And just in the nick of time, there was Edgar Quero<\/u><\/a> making up for his woeful first two months of the year with a walk-off blast that\u2019ll play in Crosstown highlight reels for generations to come.<\/p>\n While anything seems possible in mid-May for a rebuilding squad that\u2019s finally looking competitive, those three names probably aren\u2019t joining the household variety in Chicago anytime soon \u2014 even if the Sox can take another step from mediocre in the wide-open American League Central.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s no question about the three M\u2019s at the heart of the batting order whose consistent production has all of baseball reconsidering what the Sox might be able to accomplish in Year Three of general manager Chris Getz\u2019s organizational overhaul: Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas.<\/p>\n The high-powered infield triumvirate had accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Sox\u2019 eye-popping 66 homers entering play Monday, tied for second-most in Major League Baseball, with Murakami\u2019s 17 leading the American League. The Sox led MLB in the 30 days leading up to their six-game West Coast road trip in homers (46) and OPS (.817).<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a long path for the team\u2019s offseason splurge from Japan, who has left 29 other teams shaking their heads after passing on his meager free-agent market.<\/p>\n The journeys have been just as long for Montgomery, who has shouldered the hopes of the rebuild since being drafted in 2021, and Vargas, who looked downright miserable after arriving from the high-flying Dodgers in the middle of the Sox\u2019 historically bad 2024 season.<\/p>\n Now the trio are regularly sharing sushi-eating dugout celebrations while taking pressure off each other and a suddenly potent lineup in a season that\u2019s actually carrying some marginal expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just shows what this lineup is capable of doing,\u201d Montgomery said ahead of the Sox\u2019 rubber-match win against the Cubs before heading to Seattle. \u201cIt just takes a lot of pressure off a lot of us. We have runners on base, I\u2019m on deck and I\u2019m like, \u2018Vargas, he draws a lot of walks.\u2019 You get up to bat and I need to try to do something, but then he hits a three-run homer and it\u2019s like, \u2018Alright, now we are rolling.\u2019 It takes the pressure off of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Montgomery has built on his impressive rookie campaign to a .238\/.335\/.524 start with 13 homers and 31 RBI. The shortstop would be the Sox\u2019 story of the year if not for the thunderous debut from Murakami (.235\/.372\/.562), not that Montgomery\u2019s complaining.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year [I] didn\u2019t really have much of a guy I could gauge off how I might get pitched,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving a guy up here who\u2019s also a left-handed bat and has power, it\u2019s one of those things where I\u2019m kind of getting questions to a test.\u201d<\/p>\n Flying under the radar but perhaps not for much longer has been the third baseman Vargas, who\u2019s hitting .247\/.374\/.506 with 11 homers and 29 RBI.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s shown glimpses of it and I feel like now his work and preparation is kind of showing off,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cYour preparation, your process \u2014 if you command that, in our heads, it\u2019s like, we\u2019re going to have success. He\u2019s been banging and it\u2019s been fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n The homer-happy Sox have banged out nearly 52% of their runs via the long ball, according to Baseball Prospectus, but their recent run is more reliant on demeanor than distance, according to manager Will Venable.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve just continued to play all nine innings, every single pitch. It\u2019s something [hitting coach Derek] Shomon talks about in the hitters\u2019 meetings,\u201d Venable said. \u201cThey have the energy for it and they just continue to put out a lot of energy on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n