With the White Sox finally resembling the team that was seemingly running away with the American League Central for the first month of the season, fans can’t help but wonder if their latest acquisition has anything left in the tank to help keep the team’s hot stretch alive.

Although he’s spent much of his career as a White Sox-killer, Justin Morneau’s bat could be an important factor in the White Sox remaining a playoff contender throughout the summer.

While much of the lineup has started to heat up as the summer weather comes into effect, one glaring weakness has been designated hitter Avisail Garcia. For somebody who’s on the roster solely to produce offensively, he’s had a lot of trouble hitting the baseball as of late.

Garcia, who had a batting average of .260 as recently as June 18th, has seen his offensive statistics spiral downward for the better part of a month. His average now sits at .238, and Avi has shown no signs of being able to get that number back up to respectability.

After struggling mightily in April, Garcia had an uncharacteristic hot stretch in May. Though he missed a bit of time due to injury, Avi turned in a slash line of .273/.317/.403 for the month, giving fans some optimism that maybe he had finally turned the corner and started to live up to his potential.

And then June happened, where Avi had just ONE extra base hit in 79 AB, a double against the Indians in a losing effort on June 17th. Yes, a Major League Baseball team’s starting DH could only muster up one extra base hit in an entire calendar month.

This is where Justin Morenau comes in, who was assigned to Charlotte on Monday afternoon to begin a minor league rehab assignment. There are a lot of question marks surrounding his health, and nobody really knows what to expect from the former MVP.

Given the track record of Kenny Williams and his past failed experiments with veteran players (Jimmy Rollins, Adam LaRoche, and Adam Dunn to name a few), many were quick to criticize and make fun of the Morneau signing. He was recovering from offseason elbow surgery and hadn’t swung a bat in months, so there was certainly reason to be skeptical about the move.

However, many are quick to forget the recent success Morneau had with the Rockies when he was healthy. Though injuries limited his 2015 season to just 49 games, he turned in a slash line of .310/.363/.458 during that span.

How did Morneau’s last full season go? He won the NL batting title and received a small share of MVP votes in 2014. Not too shabby for a player that many believe is well past his prime. If he can play even close to that level for the White Sox, they may have finally found a legitimate option at DH.

Only time will tell whether or not the signing will work out, but for just $1 million it was certainly worth taking a chance on him. After all, Morneau can’t be any worse than Avi Garcia, can he?