South Side Sox Player of the Week (May 15-21): Davis Martin

The future looked bright at Kauffman Stadium, at least to White Sox skipper Tony La Russa and pitching coach Ethan Katz, when White Sox draft pick Davis Martin made his major league debut last week.

The 25-year-old righthander had dominated at Texas Tech and nailed an impressive 32.4% strikeout rate at Double-A Birmingham. Martin got the call-up expecting to be bullpen depth, but ended up starting the second game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals.

With some words of advice from teammate Dylan Cease, and Yasmani Grandal guiding him from behind the plate, Martin struck out seven and allowed one run in a solid, five-inning debut. If nothing else, Martin proved that he has as much right to start for the Sox as Dallas Keuchel or Vince Velasquez, who have bombed plenty in this early season.

Unfortunately, the White Sox could only cook up a single run in last Tuesday’s nightcap, and Martin had to wear the loss in the eventual 2-1 defeat.

Over the last 10 games, the White Sox offense has scored an average of just more than three runs per game. In plainer words, their usually juicy offense is as dried up as a ballpark peanut.

With Lance Lynn still out for weeks, Martin may get another chance to stretch his major league wings. Until then, Davis Martin can rest on this South Side Sox accolade, and point torward to a return to the White Sox soon.

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2022 South Side Sox Players of the Week

Tim Anderson (April 8-17)
Tanner Banks (April 18-23)
Lucas Giolito (April 24-May 1)
Dylan Cease (May 2-8)
Michael Kopech (May 9-14)
Davis Martin (May 15-21)

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MVP Standings

Dylan Cease (41.8)
Michael Kopech (39.1)
Lucas Giolito (28.2)
Tim Anderson (27.4)
Luis Robert (22.0)
Matt Foster (13.6)
Tanner Banks (12.7)
Davis Martin (10.0)
Andrew Vaughn (8.3)
Johnny Cueto (7.5)

Cold Cat Standings

Leury García (-33.9)
Liam Hendriks (-23.6)
Joe Kelly (-21.9)
Aaron Bummer (-20.0)
Gavin Sheets (-19.0)
Josh Harrison (-13.5)
AJ Pollock (-12.7)
Jake Burger (-11.7)
Yasmani Grandal (-10.9)
Dallas Keuchel (-10.8)

Johnny Cueto leaps into the MVP race, in his first week with the team! Conversely, Dallas Keuchel’s up-and-mostly-down season finds him back among the Cold Cats.

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Writer Standings

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If you’re interested in seeing more of Mitch’s work, or if you’d like to purchase original drawings or prints, contact him via Twitter (@soxsketcher), Instagram (@southsidesharpie), or by e-mail at southsidesharpie@gmail.com. Thanks for supporting local artists!