The White Sox banged out seven straight hits to start the game against Seattle’s Mike Leake, with the only out recorded during that time coming when Avisail Garcia was picked off. They led 7-0 after two innings and never looked back, as all 10 players to appear registered at least one hit.

1. I wrote Monday about how the White Sox being bad is a lot more tolerable if the young players we hope are going to be part of the next contender show progress. Monday’s win saw a lot of that, most specifically from Yoan Moncada. We’re still early enough in the season that one big game can do a lot for one’s batting line, and Moncada’s 3-for-5 evening brought his OPS from .729 all the way up to .838. A triple, double, and home run all before the end of the fourth inning will do that for you.

One of the strangest complaints we’ve had about Moncada’s tenure with the White Sox to date is that he seemed, at times, almost too passive at the plate. In the first, he laced a 1-0 sinker into the gap (it would’ve been a double if not for a misplay by Dee Gordon, but I digress), in the second he crushed the first pitch, a hanging knuckle-curve, over the head of Mitch Haniger for a double off the wall, and in the fourth … well, he took a couple of called strikes before ending Leake’s night with his fourth home run of the season.

2. Carson Fulmer took a small step toward giving the White Sox rotation more strikeouts than walks on the season, and an even bigger step in helping reestablish confidence he can succeed long-term as a starter.

Fulmer struck out three and walked just one in six innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Strangely enough, all three of the hits he allowed went for extra bases, including his only mistake, a 1-1 fastball to Mike Zunino that the catcher took out for a two-run homer.

It was an efficient outing if not overly impressive. Fulmer was able to induce contact using primarily his fastball, which he threw 67 times out of his 97 pitches. He only induced three swings and misses, but routinely hit the mark, succeeding in A) not falling behind, and B) not giving Seattle hitters anything to drive.

3. As strange as it may be, I often think about — particularly in seasons where the White Sox are as bad as they are currently — who the team’s All-Star representative is going to be. Right now, the answer is pretty definitively Jose Abreu, who is up to six home runs and a .949 OPS after Monday’s 4-for-5 performance.

Amid all of the focus on the White Sox young players and what they are or aren’t doing, it’s easy to overlook the continued brilliance of the 31-year-old first baseman. Plenty has been said about his mentorship to Moncada and the plethora of youngsters in the clubhouse, but he’s off to the best start since his rookie season and he’s performing on a level among the top first basemen in the game.

4. Chris Beck is back. The White Sox added him to both the 40- and 25-man rosters on Monday after the team placed Miguel Gonzalez on the 10-day disabled list with right rotator cuff inflammation and transferred Danny Farquhar to the 60-day DL.

Beck was the White Sox innings pitched leader among the relievers in 2017 kind of by default as he stuck around through the trades of every reliever with any semblance of value. And in those 64 2/3 innings of work he was … terrible, walking 34 against 42 strikeouts with a 6.40 ERA.

He’s back, though! And picked up his first career save by virtue of tossing the last three innings of Monday’s win. Saves are dumb, man. He throws hard, though, which has a lot (or all) to do with his continued opportunities, and gave up a lot of hard contact — and two runs — in his three innings of work. He also was the benefactor of one of the weirdest double plays I’ve seen in a while.

5. With Beck, who was starting in Triple-A before his promotion, tossing three innings on Monday and Gonzalez disabled, the White Sox rotation is up in the air, as  Chris Volstad, who last pitched Saturday when he tossed three innings, will take a turn on Tuesday as Hector Santiago was used Sunday.

Beyond Tuesday, things are more unclear with a taxed bullpen and doubleheader against the Royals on the horizon. There’s no indication they’re ready to give Michael Kopech his highly-anticipated debut, but given the state of the rotation, clamoring for exactly that will only grow.

Bonus Morning 6: While Monday’s win had plenty of positives, Avisail Garcia left with a right hamstring strain after coming up lame on a groundout in the third inning. It’s unknown at this point whether the injury will require a DL stint, but if it comes to that it will likely mean a healthy dose of Trayce Thompson in right field. Daniel Palka would be a logical replacement in the interim, as it’s hard to imagine Eloy Jimenez — who hit two home runs for Double-A Birmingham on Monday — would be the choice at this point.

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In the BPSS Slack chat we’ve brought up on a number of occasions which player will be most commonly missed 4-5 years from now in the Sporcle quiz where you need to name every player who suited up for the 2017 White Sox. There are a good number of candidates, but Al Alburquerque is undoubtedly one of the favorites. The White Sox began the season with a really good bullpen. Too good, really, for a team with no notion of contending. Rick Hahn did just as he should, of course, and traded every single reliever with any semblance of value. The White Sox, by rule, are required to have players on their roster capable of taking the mound and throwing baseballs in the direction of home plate, and Albuquerque did just that for all of eight innings, striking out five and allowing one run. Alburquerque was once more than an afterthought of a reliever; he was actually quite good with the Tigers back in 2014. Relievers are a confusing bunch. There’s a non-zero chance Alburquerque throws meaningful innings for a team again somewhere down the road, but chances are it won’t be with the White Sox.

Cody Asche is the exact type of player who would’ve drawn the ire of White Sox Twitter had he been employed during a season in which the White Sox were expected to contend. A failed prospect makes sense as a flier on a rebuilding team, however. Still, it didn’t take long for the White Sox to figure out that Matt Davidson was at least good in the dinger department while Asche wasn’t good in any department. The former Phillie made the White Sox out of Spring Training and promptly hit .105/.177/.175 in 62 plate appearances before being jettisoned to Triple-A Charlotte, never to be seen again. He actually played quite well for the Knights, putting up a .887 through the rest of the season, but that merely serves as yet another example of the difference in competition level between Triple-A and the majors.

Quick: Guess who threw the most relief innings for the White Sox in 2017. Give up? Well, it’s Chris Beck with 64. Since he was drafted in 2012, Beck’s fastball has always been lively enough to envision a world in which he could become an asset in the bullpen. But his emergence as an innings eater for the White Sox this season came more out of necessity than productivity, as he posted a 6.47 ERA in those 64 innings pitched. There were only 11 pitchers in baseball this season who threw as many innings as Beck with a worse ERA. The problem? The same as it’s always been with Beck: Too many walks. He’s now tossed 95 1/3 innings in his professional career and has a BB/9 of 5.0. Beck is an organizational soldier, if nothing else. After all, someone had to throw those innings. But at 27 years old and with nearly 100 below average innings under his belt, the chances of him turning into a bullpen asset look increasingly slim.

In 2012 veteran journeyman Dan Johnson got a late season call from the White Sox and recorded 31 plate appearances, hitting .364/.547/.818 fueled almost entirely by a 3 homer game on the last day of the regular season. Rob Brantly’s 2017 line won’t look quite as impressive, but in 36 plate appearances he put up a .290/.389/.516 line that … probably means nothing in the long run. Catchers are eternally weird, and the offensive threshold is such that there’s a chance Brantly could stick around as a backup during the next couple of years of the rebuild, but there’s certainly no guarantee he’s even on the team for next year.

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1. Lucas Giolito had his second strong start out of his last three, striking out 11 over 6 innings while only allowing 5 hits 1 run and 2 walks.  The White Sox have been very clear that Giolito is a work in progress as they try to overhaul his mechanics. His fastball is no longer the 80-grade offering it was when he was in the discussion for Best Prospect In Baseball, but he could be a good mid-rotation starter as soon as next year, and that’s a really valuable thing.  The process is more important than the results at this stage with Giolito…but uh, feel free to explain to me why 11Ks is a bad thing.

2. Jake Petricka is back throwing rehab starts for Charlotte, throwing twice over the weekend.  The results haven’t been pretty, but unless you think his health is still compromised or this most recent injury permanently diminished his skill set, these appearances should probably be viewed as one would approach Spring Training.  Petricka isn’t a guy who had such a huge margin for error, so any permanent regression could be problematic. However, given his track record, he represents an upgrade over, say, Gregory Infante.

3. Given Jose Quintana‘s struggles, a popular conversation has been whether the White Sox erred in retaining his services into the 2017 season. This topic will be the subject of its own piece, but the only concrete offer that was made public was that the Astros declined the White Sox offer of Quintana for Francis Martes, Kyle Tucker, and Joe Musgrove.  For what it’s worth, Martes is getting annihilated at Triple-A thus far. It is the PCL, which is an extreme hitter’s environment, but he’s walking almost a batter per inning while also surrendering a billion hits.  Tucker dominated High-A and is adjusting to Double-A.  Joe Musgrove has been bad.

4. For a second round pick in an until-recently threadbare system, Chris Beck has certainly flown under the radar.  And while his velocity jumped when he shifted to the bullpen–which is a common phenomenon, but not a certainty–he got tattooed in his first extended look in the majors last year.  Undeterred, he’s posting respectable numbers in 2017 with a DRA of 3.45 and a cFIP of 96.

If Beck can maintain this level, he would represent a solid middle reliever. If he finds any further improvement as he continues to adjust to the deployment of his Reliever Stuff rather than his Starter Stuff, there may be a little more in there.  Either outcome would be a very welcome one for any second round pick.  Generating depth like this from within is certainly not flashy, but it’s really nice not having to spend resources in trades or free agency to fill out the back of your bullpen.

5. Kevan Smith has struggled with the bat out of the gate. Catching prospects are weird as a general rule and their development can meander all over the place, sometimes leading nowhere, or…well, look at Tyler Flowers.  Either way, so far Baseball Prospectus’ defensive metrics rate Smith as an average defender behind the plate.  If you can defend the catcher position, you can hit really badly and still have a major league career.  It’s an even more impressive result given that he was always considered a huge liability behind the plate, and you can see his steady improvement year-by-year as he worked with the White Sox’ player development staff. Factor in Smith’s physicality and decent minor league track record, it’s not impossible that he scratches out enough offense to contribute value off of the bench.

Omar Narvaez and Smith hardly combine to form Buster Posey, but as with Beck above, if you can generate serviceable options for the margins of your roster cheaply, it gives you a ton of flexibility elsewhere and continues to help avoid the death anchors / black holes that torpedoed the last White Sox would-be contention cycle.

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The White Sox did plenty to put themselves in this position, things that have been reiterated in this space on several occasions. Among those mistakes — and I won’t say whether it’s the most important mistake or second most important mistake or 11th most important mistake, you can decide that for yourself — was their lack of depth.

You see, when a team’s chosen course of action is to plug holes with highly volatile veterans — the Austin Jackson or Justin Morneau types, or the Dioner Navarro types or even the Brett Lawrie types — having players who can fill in when, inevitably, they’re needed because of injury or ineffectiveness, is pretty danged important.

Failing to employ above-average starters was obviously a big factor in the White Sox downfall, but failing to build up their roster and minor league system with players capable of stepping into a big league role and providing even replacement-level production has also an obvious hinderance.

Fast forward to present day and a White Sox team that is expected to be bad, instead of being unexpectedly bad like we’re used to, and depth is still important, just for different reasons.

The 2017 season isn’t important for the White Sox in terms of wins and losses, but it’s still important in terms of development. Sticking to the development timeline for the plethora of prospects is key, and having warm bodies who can serve as placeholders able to hold down a major league job is integral in not forcing the White Sox hand into an early promotion.

Of course, that would prove moot if Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Yoan Moncada or others do prove to be major league ready relatively soon. All three have already seen action in the majors. But until they are ready, whether it’s June or September or 2018 or beyond, the White Sox need guys who can fill those holes.

They don’t need to fill them well, mind you, since, ya, know, winning doesn’t matter. But if James Shields is struggling to get through three innings without giving up five dingers, or Derek Holland breaks again, or Jose Quintana is traded, guys need to step in and provide any number of the 1,458-plus innings the White Sox will play this season.

That’s where the likes of Chris Beck, Dylan Covey, Giovanni Soto and others will come in, and why Yolmer Sanchez, Leury Garcia, Alfredo Gonzalez, Peter Bourjos, and Rymer Liriano actually, in some small way, matter.

It’s highly unlikely any of those guys will be meaningful contributors on the next White Sox contender, but they’re “bridge the gap” guys between now and then. And whether or not they’re able to do just that will likely impact, however minute, the White Sox ability to stick to their timeline and rebuild in a meaningful way.

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If I haven’t lost you with the complicated metrics already, the White Sox have not won three games in a row since May 9.  The Red Sox are still the better team, but tonight features a match up between Jose Quintana and Eduardo Rodriguez.  That should give Chicago a huge edge, even though this is the team that lost a game between Chris Sale and Mike Pelfrey just the other week.

1. Tim Anderson! Tim Anderson. The new shortstop already has the highest OPS on the team, which is both exciting and kind of horrifying as a referendum on the rest of the roster.  It has only been about 50 PAs and he has yet to draw a walk, but so far this is about as good as one could realistically hope for from the 22-year old.* The league is going to adjust and he’ll have to adjust back, but a .290 average with power at shortstop is much better than many, many alternatives.

*He turns 23 on Thursday.

2. Back-to-back wins is great, but the offense is hardly singing, even with Anderson’s .771 OPS being plopped in at one of their weakest positions. Their team TAv continues to drop and now sits at .251, 27th in MLB ahead of only the Yankees, the Phillies who have been carried to somewhat respectability by some really exciting young pitchers (but are currently cratering), and the Losing On Purpose Braves. That’s better than last year’s edition, but significantly worse than the 2014 roster, and identical to the 63-win disaster that was 2013.  The White Sox can win games when they hold their opponent to one run (sometimes), but unless you plan on having your entire pitching staff pitch like 1910 Ed Walsh that’s a pretty hopeless strategy.

3.  With the University of Miami’s season finally over, the White Sox were able to sign their top draft pick, Zack Collins. The White Sox have consistently had a horrible offense for years now, which is a product of an unven-to-poor ability to make quality adds at the major league level, limited funds, and absolutely zero ability to add hitting talent through the draft. Some of that is because first round picks have gone to pitchers, and I’m not complaining about that; Carlos Rodon is already a triumph as far as adding amateur talent goes.  Part of that is because the bats they have taken were extremely risky and had them blow up in their face.  Collins is a different phylum of prospect than they have had in a long time, and although this is the same organization that turned Tyler “his bat will play anywhere but he can’t catch” Flowers into a defensive specialist, Collins should move quickly through the system and at the very least his bat–specifically, his power–should play in the majors.

If Collins’ bat flops it may just be one of those things, but if the front office hasn’t taken a hard look at how they develop hitters already, this would represent one of their biggest failures and should trigger some serious reflection. If he succeeds, it would mean one less spot in the lineup that needs to be fixed with bargain bin free agents or trading away talent.

4. Speaking of bargain bin free agents, the White Sox added Slade Heathcott on Father’s Day.  Heathcott was once a pretty highly regarded prospect, although he has struggled with durability and consistently converting his tools into performance. One of the few organizational strengths that the White Sox can hang their hat on is their training staff, and maybe if they can keep him on the field Heathcott can tap into some of his former shine.  It costs the team nothing, so it’s a worthwhile gamble. Sometimes you can catch lightning in a bottle.

5. Zach Putnam is on the disabled list again, and Chris Beck has been selected as his replacement.  The White Sox continue to roll with a 13-man pitching staff, which seems insane to me, although if James Shields keeps getting knocked out in the 3rd inning I don’t know that I can fault them for it.  At this point it is looking like this is the norm until Justin Morneau comes off of the DL. Beck is another guy who can’t get enough strikeouts in the minors, so I am not optimistic for his major league future, or at the very least his present.

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