The term might be oversimplified and glorified, but the tale of the White Sox 2005 season starts with the idea of Ken Williams wanting to embrace the concept of “small ball.” No longer satisfied with the team’s identity of power hitters unable to play situational baseball or having a clear table-setter who can wreak havoc on the basepaths, Williams signaled a clear shift in philosophy by trading Carlos Lee to Milwaukee for Scott Podsednik.
In some ways, the Sox appear to be in a similar spot a month into this 2022 season. Thanks to what seems to be a deadened baseball, launch angles and barrels no longer equate to an automatic home run.