Mike Tauchman is staying close to home. The left-handed-hitting outfielder's next big on-field moment will come for the White Sox after he agreed to a one-year, $1.95 million deal with the club on Dec. 11.

Tauchman played the past two seasons for the Cubs, and, ironically, he launched a walk-off home run on the second pitch he saw from then-White Sox righty Michael Kopech in the ninth inning to finish off a 7-6 victory over the South Siders on June 5 at Wrigley Field.

After Tauchman became a free agent, the White Sox reached out and were aggressive in acquiring his services. As the process unfolded, Tauchman -- a native of the Chicago suburb Palatine, Ill. -- felt it made sense to stay in his home city.

¡°We felt it was a good opportunity and we felt it was a good fit,¡± Tauchman said. ¡°Obviously, the opportunity to stay home played a factor, too. ¡­ We have a two-month-old at home. It¡¯s our first kid. The grandparents are here. The aunts and uncles are here. Everybody is local.

¡°You don¡¯t understand the phrase, ¡®It takes a village,¡¯ until you have a kid of your own. Our village has been great. For that to continue, to have that support system in-house, that ended up being a really big factor for my wife and I as we made this decision.¡±

Tauchman is a player who gets on base consistently. Over his two years with the Cubs, Tauchman posted a .360 on-base percentage (217 games). He could serve as a left-handed platoon in right field with recently signed right-handed-hitting outfielder Austin Slater. But that's just part of what the South Siders like about Tauchman.

¡°The consistency,¡± White Sox manager Will Venable said. ¡°[He] can control the zone, give you a professional at-bat, good defender, good base runner. Just one of those guys that you can depend on every day.¡±

¡°He puts together a quality at-bat, a guy who historically has gotten on base,¡± general manager Chris Getz said. ¡°You look at how many pitches he averages per plate appearance, it¡¯s something that will be a welcome addition to our lineup.¡±

Tauchman, 34, provides a veteran presence to a team that is looking to return to its winning ways. The team is quite young and he hopes to bring the leadership that he learned while playing for the Rockies, Yankees, Giants and Cubs. He learned his baseball lessons from veterans such as Charlie Blackmon, Brett Gardner and Yan Gomes. Tauchman can¡¯t wait to get to know his new teammates and talk ball with them.

¡°As the game seemingly gets younger and I get older, I reflect back on the veteran players ¡­ that set a really good example for me,¡± Tauchman said. ¡°I was fortunate to play with some awesome veterans who really cared about the guys on the team and in the clubhouse. ¡­ I view it as, it¡¯s on me to continue that [leadership] just in terms of knowing the guys that made me feel comfortable.

¡°At the end of the day, there is [this] part of it: Your job is to show up and do your job because everybody is fighting for the next year. I feel like I¡¯ve been playing for next year since 2013. It¡¯s important that I come out and perform because it¡¯s a performance game at the end of the day.¡±

Getz recently mentioned that there is outside interest in center fielder Luis Robert Jr., and left fielder Andrew Benintendi also could be a trade candidate.

Either of those players being dealt could spell more playing time for Tauchman, who has 150 career games in left field, 135 in center field and 117 in right field.

¡°There's interest with a lot of these guys, and Andrew being one of them,¡± Getz said. ¡°Once again, you do what's best for the organization and we have those conversations.

¡°Versatility in both of those players [Slater and Tauchman] or whomever we acquire is important for a lot of different reasons. It¡¯s a long season. There's changes to the roster, so that versatility would be really important. Our expectation is for those two new players to play all three [outfield positions].¡±