AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

The White Sox struck the perfect balance between young talent and a winning clubhouse culture

- SCOTT MILLER

Before the world changed and baseball screeched to a temporary halt this spring, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn stood in the back of the rival Cubs’ Arizona press box ahead of a Cactus League game on the first Friday of March as a bright sun belied the impending coronavirus storm clouds.

The White Sox had just signed slugging third baseman Yoan Moncada to a five-year, $70 million extension, and Hahn, who isn’t exactly Mr. Braggadocious, in his low-key way uttered what we now can ID as perhaps the understatement of the season.

“We can objectively sit here today and feel like we have three of arguably the most exciting young players in the American League under control for at least the next six years,” Hahn said. “And that is a good feeling.”

Arguably? As ol’ Hawk Harrelson would be proud to say, “You can put it on the board! Yessss!”

Good feeling? Good grief. With the long-term ink still practically drying on deals for Moncada, Luis Robert (six years, $50 million on Jan. 2) and Eloy Jimenez (six years, $43 million, in March 2019), Hahn could have simply done a flamboyant mic drop and said, “Architect, out. See ya in October.”

Which Hahn and his team will, notably for the first time since 2008, and likely, for the first of many Octobers to come. One of the most exciting young teams in the game, from Robert’s electricity to Moncada’s versatility to Jimenez’s thump to shortstop Tim Anderson’s magic bat to Lucas Giolito’s no-hit stuff, the lean summers on Chicago’s South Side have yielded to not just a future crackling with promise, but a present that brims with it, too.