So many projections of the White Sox future focus on where all these talented prospects are going to wind up starting.
But rarely does one of these 2020 or 2021 projections include bench players.
This isn’t to say that Daniel Palka, who hit his third pinch-hit home run of the season to lift the White Sox to a win over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Thursday, is destined to be nothing more than a pinch-hitter. There are plenty of surprises left in this rebuild, and few things have been as surprising in 2018 as Palka being one off the team lead in home runs as the calendar flips to the season’s final two months.