WHITE SOX HEADLINES OF APRIL 4, 2018 “Avisail Garcia crushed the longest home of the season and it nearly ended up in a hotel room”…Eric Chesterton, MLB.com “Avisail Garcia crushes longest HR of season”… Keegan Matheson, MLB.com “White Sox three homers not enough vs. Jays”… Keegan Matheson, MLB.com “The White Sox are down to .500, but they keep crushing homers”… Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “After busting out the boomstick vs. White Sox, should Josh Donaldson be fans' new man crush for 2019?”… Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “The story behind White Sox ’s whistle and Josh Donaldson’s reaction”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “Challenge of developing 'a lot of good arms' drives Welington Castillo”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “White Sox on AL-best homer surge, but Rick Renteria wants well-rounded offense”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “By the Numbers: White Sox look like a rebuilding club for the first time in 2018”…James Fegan, The Athletic Avisail Garcia crushed the longest of the season and it nearly ended up in a hotel room By Eric Chesterton / MLB.com/ April 3, 2018

When you stay in a hotel room, you expect a certain level of privacy. Sure, the kids in the room above you may be jumping up and down in vacation-induced joy all night, but, thanks to that "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door, at least no one is going to barge in.

On Tuesday night, White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia visited the Blue Jays and nearly shattered that assumption of privacy when he sent a 481-foot home run that came just inches away from potentially disturbing some guests at the Rogers Centre hotel:

Clearly, that dinger went a long way. It went so far that it was both the longest homer of the young 2018 season and the longest White Sox home run since 2015. White Sox manager Rick Renteria summed it up well. "Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that," he told MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.

Next time Garcia's in town, Rogers Centre guests would do well to affix their "Do Not Disturb" signs to their windows, just to be safe.

Avisail Garcia crushes longest HR of season By Keegan Matheson /MLB.com / April 3, 2018

TORONTO -- Avisail Garcia took the lead for the longest home run in the Majors this season, when he sent a towering shot off the facing of the fourth deck in Toronto on Tuesday night in Chicago's 14-5 loss.

Garcia's 481-foot home run was measured by Statcast™ at 116.7 mph off the bat with a launch angle of 27 degrees. Only eight home runs travelled farther last season.

"That was a well-struck ball," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "I don't think I've seen one struck as well as that."

This is also the longest home run hit by a member of the since Statcast™'s introduction in 2015.

"It was a pretty impressive blast, just from standing in the dugout and watching it," Renteria added. "Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that shot."

The pitch from Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ was an 85.9 mph slider that caught far too much of the plate, and Garcia got all of it. The right fielder singled in his first at-bat of the night and struck out swinging in his second.

White Sox three homers not enough vs. Jays By Keegan Matheson /MLB.com/ April 2, 2018

TORONTO -- The White Sox could not keep pace with the Blue Jays and their relentless offense on Tuesday night in Toronto.

Chicago kept things close through the middle , but its bullpen allowed the floodgates to open in a seven-run eighth that capped the 14-5 loss. White Sox combined to allow 15 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases.

View Full Game Coverage "We kept chipping away the whole ball game," said White Sox manager Rick Renteria, who was happy with the effort his team showed late despite the deficit. "We just weren't able to contend today. The pitching had a little bit of a difficult time today. Other than that, I thought we still battled."

Starter Miguel Gonzalez allowed five earned runs over five innings in his first start of the season, including eight hits, two walks and four . Two of those hits left the park for home runs as the veteran right-hander caught the middle of the plate too often.

"A couple of bad pitches, I left them up," Gonzalez said. "They're good hitters, they capitalize on mistakes. I just need to do a better job next time."

Tim Anderson was a bright spot for the White Sox with a home run, two singles and three runs scored. Anderson also stole second and third base in the same sequence, moving him to 28-for-31 on stolen- base attempts in his young career.

Renteria believes that the White Sox will need more all-around offensive performances like Anderson's to succeed this season, especially against stronger pitching when the team cannot rely solely on the long ball.

"We have to be able to generate run-scoring opportunities and executions through runners on third, advancing runners, things of that nature," Renteria said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

No stopping Diaz: The White Sox had no answer for Blue Jays Aledmys Diaz, who left the game late with back spasms. Before his departure, Diaz homered, doubled, and singled. His three RBIs and two runs from the No. 9 spot helped to turn Toronto's lineup over and kept Chicago from regaining any momentum through the middle innings.

"The story of the day was that their offense was pretty good," Renteria said. "You've got to tip your cap to them, they continued to grind."

Donaldson does it again: If it were up to Josh Donaldson, the White Sox would stay in town for a couple more games after Wednesday's finale. Donaldson's two-run home run in the fourth inning was his second of the season, and marked the fifth consecutive game that he's homered against the White Sox. According to Statcast™, Donaldson's shot on Tuesday was measured at 360 feet and the ball left his bat at 94.7 mph.

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS In the bottom of the fourth inning, the White Sox surrendered a single, and in order before Donaldson's home run capped off the team's single-inning cycle.

GARCIA BLASTS OFF Avisail Garcia now owns the farthest home run hit in the Majors this season after his 481-foot blast in the fifth inning. Only eight home runs were measured farther in the entire 2017 season, and it is the farthest hit by a White Sox player since Statcast™ was introduced in 2015.

Renteria couldn't recall seeing a home run struck as well as Garcia's in person.

"It was a pretty impressive blast," Renteria said, "just from standing in the dugout and watching it. Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that shot."

FOUR STARS FOR ENGEL made a four-star catch in the third inning on a fly ball to the gap. Engel raced over to make it look easy, but the ball had a catch probability of just 41 percent. He covered 68 feet in 4.1 seconds to make the play.

WHAT'S NEXT will take the mound for the series finale in Toronto at 6:07 p.m. CT today, marking his sixth Major League start. Fulmer posted a 3.86 ERA over 23 1/3 innings with the White Sox last season, but will need to find the plate early as he's walked 4.6 batters per nine innings in his Minor League career. The White Sox are down to .500, but they keep crushing homers By Vinnie Duber /NBC Sports Chicago / April 3, 2018

The White Sox saw their dreams of going 162-0 dashed Monday. One night later, they fell to .500 and found themselves on the brink of a three-game sweep against the .

But in this still-nascent season, the South Siders are just crushing the ball. The White Sox bashed three more home runs in Tuesday night's 14-5 loss to the Blue Jays, bringing their season total to 12 in just four games.

Tim Anderson, Avisail Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez did the honors Tuesday, a night after Welington Castillo had a two-homer game in the series-opener.

Anderson's fourth-inning blast helped score the shortstop a bit of redemption after he made his first error of the season and allowed a run to score in the bottom of the third. Sanchez lifted a ball to the second deck to bring the White Sox within two in the eighth.

But the highlight of the night for the visitors was Garcia's shot in the fifth, a 481-foot bomb that went down as the longest homer of the season in baseball and the longest for a White Sox hitter since Statcast started keeping track of such things in 2015.

Coming into Tuesday night, only the had more homers than the White Sox, with 10.

But when it's come to hitting the ball out of the park, what a rip-roaring start for the South Siders, who ranked just 24th in homers in 2017. Already they have three players with multiple home runs on the season in Matt Davidson (three), Anderson (three) and Castillo (two). Garcia and Sanchez joined Jose Abreu and in the one-homer club Tuesday. After busting out the boomstick vs. White Sox, should Josh Donaldson be fans' new man crush for 2019? By Vinnie Duber /NBC Sports Chicago / April 3, 2018

White Sox fans will have plenty of time to continue their social-media lovefest over star .

Long desired by South Side baseball fans, Machado is one of the headlining members of next season’s free-agent class. And while he’s moved from third base to shortstop, where Tim Anderson plays, and seems destined for one of the biggest contracts in baseball history, none of that is likely to deter hopes that he’ll wind up one of the finishing touches of Rick Hahn’s rebuilding effort.

But what if Machado goes to play for the or some other team? What if the White Sox need to search elsewhere for a free-agent addition to a team with a young core of planned rebuild stars?

The answer could be the guy hammering White Sox pitching this week in Toronto.

Josh Donaldson is one of the other superstars heading to the free-agent market next winter, and the White Sox have received an up-close-and-personal look at just how much of a game-changing bat he swings. Through the series’ first two games, Donaldson — whose light-hearted tiff with White Sox first base coach Daryl Boston’s whistle has made the social-media rounds in the past couple days — has mashed, going 3-for-8 with a pair of home runs, four RBIs, three runs scored and a walk. He was right in the middle of the Blue Jays' offensive onslaught against Miguel Gonzalez and a trio of relievers in Tuesday night's 14-5 pounding.

And it looks like he settled his "feud" with Boston, too.

Though Donaldson is an eye-popping seven years older than the still-just-25-year-old Machado, he could be a more realistic option for the White Sox — that is, should they be in the spending mood after the 2018 campaign. It’s very possible the White Sox won’t yet be ready to add a huge name like Machado or Donaldson, with young minor leaguers potentially still a year or more away from taking the team from rebuilding mode to full-on contention mode.

But if the determination is made that it is time to add a big name to the mix via free agency, Donaldson would be as attractive a candidate as any. He had a three-year stretch from 2014 to 2016 of three All-Star appearances and three top-10 finishes in MVP voting. He’s hit at least 33 home runs in each of the last three seasons, 2017’s batch of 33 dingers coming in just 113 games.

And he’d be a more logical fit than Machado, not only because he’d most likely come at a far cheaper price, but also because he could be inserted at third base, where the White Sox don’t have an entrenched prospect ready to take over in the future. ’s development was dealt a significant delay when he ruptured his Achilles in . Anderson is locked in at shortstop, and while you’d figure the White Sox would find a way to add Machado if they wanted him badly enough, a natural fit at third base could prove more sensible while allowing Anderson — who in the first four games of the 2018 campaign is 6-for-16 with three homers, four RBIs, six runs scored, a walk and three stolen bases — to continue to mature at shortstop.

And if the rebuilding White Sox are looking for a long-term add at third base in free agency but aren't yet ready when Donaldson hits the market, they could wait until after the 2019 season and take a swing at Colorado Rockies star .

As with everything Hahn’s front office is dealing with and will have to deal with over the next few years, there is a good deal of flexibility. Quite a bit could happen to change the situation for both Donaldson and the White Sox over the next seven months.

But while the White Sox are playing in Toronto this week, fans might want to think about a new man crush. The story behind White Sox coach Daryl Boston’s whistle and Josh Donaldson’s reaction By Colleen Kane/Chicago Tribune / April 3, 2018

Daryl Boston tried to learn how to whistle on his own.

He even turned to YouTube to watch instructional videos. But the White Sox first-base coach couldn’t get the sound he needed to grab his ’ attention during games.

“I bought a Fox 40, and it’s been with me ever since,” Boston said.

The Fox 40 whistle is a Canadian product, so it’s fitting Boston’s use of the device received attention Monday night in the Sox’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.

Boston, who regularly works with the Sox outfielders, has expanded his use of the whistle beyond trying to signal them when they need to reposition in the field. In emptier ballparks, its shrill noise can often be heard when the Sox make a big defensive play or between innings.

Blue Jays designated hitter Josh Donaldson knew about the whistle and was talking to some of his former coaches about it before Monday’s series opener. Boston found out it bugged Donaldson and blew it before he stepped to the plate during the game.

When Donaldson homered off Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez in the sixth inning, he mimicked blowing a whistle at the Sox dugout as he crossed the plate.

“I guess he (deems) it to be appropriate, so I felt it would be appropriate if I blew it back at him when they didn't make the play,” Donaldson told Toronto reporters. “As soon as I stepped into the box, he started blowing it before anything even happened. So I felt like I'd return the favor.”

Boston and Sox manager Rick Renteria interpreted Donaldson’s gesture to be in good fun, and Boston and some Sox players laughed it off in the dugout.

“My reaction was he got us,” Boston said. “I was informed he wasn’t particularly thrilled about the whistle, and he showed me he was not. … So you can pin that homer on me.”

Donaldson isn’t the only player to call out Boston’s use of the whistle. Boston said he also has heard from the Royals.

“Sometimes when they score a run, they play a blow-the-whistle song that’s directed at me as well,” he said. Challenge of developing 'a lot of good arms' drives Welington Castillo By Colleen Kane/Chicago Tribune / April 3, 2018

Three games into his White Sox career, Welington Castillo provided a boost to the offense with a game-winning two-run double in Saturday’s victory over the Royals and a two-homer game in Monday’s loss to the Blue Jays.

But Castillo’s decision to join the Sox on a two-year, $15 million contract in December was as much about being valuable for the South Siders behind the plate. Castillo said Tuesday he likes the idea of helping a rebuilding team develop its pitchers.

That comes first before his hitting, which he said he doesn’t worry about even though his timing was a bit off as he opened the year 0-for-8.

“I love the challenge,” he said. “This is a lot of young guys, a lot of good arms, but not a lot of experience.”

Castillo learned a few lessons about weathering the ups and downs of a young team after spending parts of six seasons with the Cubs, some during their rebuilding years.

He hopes to pass such experiences along to Sox pitchers and Reynaldo Lopez, who each made it through six innings in their season debuts, and Carson Fulmer, who will make his first start of the season Wednesday night against the Blue Jays.

“Baseball will test you about how hard you can take a hit,” Castillo said. “It’s easy to go down the road when everything is going good. But when everything goes bad, that’s when you have to be there for these young guys. Try to build that confidence, that relationship, that trust in themselves that they belong in the big leagues.”

Castillo said he also liked the idea of rejoining Sox manager Rick Renteria, for whom he played with the Cubs. Renteria said Castillo hasn’t changed much in the four years since they were together. He has liked the collaboration he has seen from Castillo, backup catcher Omar Narvaez and the pitchers thus far.

“He’s a guy who has some experience under his belt, a tremendous rapport with all the guys,” Renteria said. “Being able to get to know them a little more and understand what they’re capable of doing and talking to them in certain situations is valuable.”

Keep on whistling: Renteria said first-base coach Daryl Boston can continue to use his whistle from the dugout to communicate with outfielders and celebrate defensive plays “if he’d like.” MLB Network’s Jon Morosi also reported will not ask Boston to refrain from using it unless it becomes a source of tension among teams.

Boston’s whistle drew attention Monday when Blue Jays designated hitter Josh Donaldson mimicked using a whistle at the Sox dugout after he homered. Renteria said Tuesday players from both dugouts were laughing about the exchange.

“I’m certainly not going to make it more than it is,” Renteria said. “Guys are having fun, enjoying the game.”

Up first: Sox Yoan Moncada went 3-for-13 with a double, home run and two walks in his first three games batting leadoff. Renteria sees a lot of room for growth for Moncada in the role.

“He has a really, really good eye,” Renteria said. “He’s going to continue to adapt to how pitchers are working him and he’ll make more and more solid contact from both sides of the plate. And he’ll give us speed at the top of the order.” White Sox on AL-best homer surge, but Rick Renteria wants well-rounded offense By Colleen Kane/Chicago Tribune / April 3, 2018

The White Sox lost to the Blue Jays by nine runs Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre, and yet Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia still delivered the biggest “wow” moment of the night. In the fifth inning against Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ, Garcia hit a solo home run that bounced off paneling above the second deck in left-center field and back onto the field.

MLB.com’s Statcast estimated the home run to have traveled 481 feet with an exit velocity of 116.7 mph. The site said it is both the longest and hardest home run by a Sox player since Statcast was introduced in 2015.

“That was a well-struck ball,” Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “I don’t think I’ve seen one as struck as well as that. I’m sure there have been, with guys like (Giancarlo) Stanton and (Aaron) Judge in New York. And there are some guys on (the Blue Jays) that also have been able to drive the ball very, very well at some points in time. But it was a pretty impressive blast, to be honest.”

Garcia’s homer was one of three for the Sox on Tuesday night and one of 12 over just four games this season. The latter number led the American League after their game and was tied with the Nationals for tops in Major League Baseball before the Rockies had completed their West Coast game on Tuesday night.

Matt Davidson had three homers in the season opener, and Tim Anderson also owns three. Welington Castillo has a pair, and Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu and Yolmer Sanchez have one apiece.

So yes, the Sox have power this season, but Renteria is looking for even more out of his rebuilding team’s offense.

The Sox left runners in scoring position in the first and second innings against Happ in the 14-5 loss Tuesday. And while they pieced together a pair of runs, it wasn’t enough to match the Blue Jays’ 15 hits.

“Everybody knows you ultimately can’t just win on the long ball,” Renteria said. “That’s the big thing in the game today is long ball. But when you start to face good pitching, you have to be prepared to do all facets of the game. We talk about it a lot because everybody should be prepared to do things like that when you ultimately get to postseason.

“I know it’s a stretch to talk about postseason, and I’m not saying that’s where we’re going, but I’m saying that’s the ultimate goal. Because once you’re facing the No. 1, 2 and 3 starters of every club, they’re going to minimize the damage you’re able to create.”

Of course, four games is a small sample size.

The Sox were tied for 24th in baseball with 186 home runs in 2017. So it remains to be seen how much they can improve this season as some of their young hitters continue to grow..

By the Numbers: White Sox look like a rebuilding club for the first time in 2018 By James Fegan/The Athletic / April 4, 2018

Through two games, the Blue Jays lineup has proven to be somewhat more difficult to navigate than that of the . Despite a pair of tape-measure home runs from the White Sox's Venezuelan contingent, they returned to the realm of .500 teams in a 14-5 Canadian barrage unleashed upon Miguel González, Héctor Santiago and Gregory Infante.

The White Sox (2-2) offense looked feisty once more. Tim Anderson had another encouraging night offensively, collecting three hits and a homer, but failing to get anyone out in the eighth is usually disqualifying for competitiveness. This formula might get rehashed a few times over the course of the year.

7: Swinging strikes on González's split-changeup, which is enticing given he posted the lowest rate of his career last year and certainly could use a dynamic swing-and-miss pitch to emerge with consistency. The downside is that leaving it up a couple times tanked his night, as Aledmys Díaz pounded it for a run-scoring double and Josh Donaldson lifted another elevated change just enough for a back-breaking two-run homer in the middle of a three-run Blue Jays fourth. He allowed two home runs in the Rogers Centre bandbox, but got nine ground-ball outs and showed some ability to miss bats before exiting after five innings. His margin for error is always going to be slight, but there were some tools for success in place. Given the final score, there will probably not be much focus on this.

9: The number of extra-base hits White Sox pitching allowed on the night. There were fewer home runs than they gave up Monday night, but how encouraging is that really going to be when the opposing team has a seven-run eighth? Infante and Minaya earned themselves major league jobs last year, but have not started off 2018 in a way that will give them great stability.

481 feet: Multiple reports put this as the distance for Avisaíl García's fifth-inning solo blast to left-center, but it broke Baseball Savant, as all the big home runs do. García remains an absurdly strong man who can hit ridiculous home runs but does not gear his game around trying to do so. Hanging breaking balls like what Jays starter J.A. Happ threw to him, however, allow this type of stuff to come out. The distance and 116.7 mph are both Statcast era records (which essentially means the last three years) for the White Sox. Such was García's blast that it overshadowed something as absurd as Yolmer Sánchez hitting a 442-foot shot of his own in the eighth inning. Baseball is a little nuts right now.

90.3 percent: Anderson's career success rate after he stole second and third in the sixth inning, bringing him to 3-for-3 on the season and 28-for-31 in his career, despite nearly sliding past the bag at third. While stolen bases can often be more flash than benefit, the two bags allowed Anderson to convert his single into a run off an Adam Engel groundout. The base knock was his third hit of the night, including an opposite-field wall scraper accounting for his third home run of the season.

34.6 percent: Strikeout rate for the Blue Jays starters — Jaime Garcia and J.A. Happ — so far this series. Two guys who are not known for huge strikeout rates were able to diffuse a lot of high-traffic situations. Even without the strikeouts, the Sox were probably not going to score 14 runs Tuesday.

1: Errors for Anderson this season after he got off the hook for two other misplays in the first three games, one of which was initially ruled an error and later overruled. In sum, he's had some shaky moments, and for the first time, this one blatantly burned the Sox, as Justin Smoak scored in the third on what should have been the final out of the inning on a Randal Grichuk grounder.

This is also the total number of hits on the season for Nicky Delmonico, who to his credit, did not look like a guy hunting for his first hit of the season. A short, compact swing gave him an RBI knock in the second inning.

.438/.500/.688: José Abreu's early-season slash line through four games. Not only has he reached base in every game, but he's struck out just once in 18 trips to the plate. Abreu has not so much had an .800 OPS in the month of April in the last two years.