Does Adam Engel have timing or what?
I could be talking about his home-run robbery of Niko Goodrum on Sunday, or I could be talking about the fact that he was available to come off the injured list just as Billy Hamilton went on it with a strained oblique.
Either way, it was great to see Engel return looking like himself, even if part of that is going 0-for-2 against right-handed pitching. Then again, he got plunked his third time up and immediately stole a base, so he found a way to make himself useful even without a platoon advantage.
That's going to be the task for him going forward, but I can forgive Tony La Russa if he doesn't shift all the playing time to Engel immediately. The outfield remains in a relatively fragile state:
Left field: Andrew Vaughn, who is the stablest option in terms of health, but also has a .214/.288/.406 line since becoming a regular. Jake Lamb also has no health issues and a resurgent bat, but is the shakiest of the first-time outfielders.
Center field: Engel coming off a serious hamstring strain, and Leury García who has missed the last couple games with a hand issue.
Right field: Adam Eaton, who I likened to a four-year-old phone on last week's Sox Machine Live due to his inability to hold a charge, and Danny Mendick, who's hitting so poorly that La Russa wouldn't give him the green light against Derek Holland Of All People.
Were Hamilton healthy, you'd feel OK running out an outfield with him flanked by Vaughn and Engel when the opponent is starting a lefty. But among the guys currently available, there is no good outfield permutation with this bunch. In a situation where everybody's feeling good, the optimal outfield is Vaughn-Engel-Eaton, followed by Vaughn-Engel-Lamb, and Lamb-Engel-Eaton against a tough righty.
But first, the key is avoiding a situation where Mendick has to play center again, because Luis González and Blake Rutherford are no better bets. Between Engel, García and Eaton, there are enough active and latent injury concerns that I wouldn't sweat any one combination La Russa rolls with for a given game. Engel only played consecutive days in center field once during his rehab stint thanks to quirks of the minor league schedule and a poorly timed rainout, so I'd understand if La Russa doesn't want to come out of the gate penciling in Engel for a week straight.
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The other playing time situation that currently fascinates me resides in the bullpen, where La Russa can't find an opportunity to use Matt Foster. One might look at Foster's 6.14 ERA and dismiss it with a hearty "WHO CARES," but 2021 Matt Foster has looked an awful lot like the 2020 version since the debacle in Seattle.
Over his last 13 games, Foster has allowed three runs over 12⅓ innings, good for a 2.19 ERA. He's struck out 16 against two walks and two HBPs. He's also allowed a couple homers and three of seven inherited runners to score, so he's not an on-paper solution to the shortage of high-leverage righties, but he's been fine.
Yet he's pitched just twice since May 16, and in disparate situations. He inherited the bases loaded from Dylan Cease with one out in the fifth inning of a 3-0 game at Yankee Stadium on May 22, and then he pitched the final inning of the Sox's 5-1 victory over Baltimore on May 27 without incident.
He's not the worst or least-proven pitcher of the bunch, but nobody has been used less over the last 20 games.
| Pitcher | Games | IP |
|---|---|---|
| Liam Hendriks | 10 | 8 |
| Aaron Bummer | 8 | 7.1 |
| José Ruiz | 7 | 8.1 |
| Evan Marshall | 7 | 7 |
| Garrett Crochet | 6 | 6.2 |
| Codi Heuer | 6 | 5 |
| Michael Kopech | 4 | 5 |
| Ryan Burr | 2 | 2.1 |
| Matt Foster | 2 | 2 |
I hadn't really noticed it until Ryan Burr pitched in the middle innings of a couple games the Sox trailed by a reasonable amount, followed by Codi Heuer pitching in two vastly different scenarios on consecutive days. He was backed by Evan Marshall when he faltered with a big lead, and José Ruiz when he succeeded preserving a small deficit.
I'm not clamoring for Foster to pitch these appearances, but I'm also not clamoring for most of his peers. It's more of a note that if Foster can go so seldom used for such a long period of time, the White Sox might think about converting that roster spot to a position player, at least whenever there's one worth recalling. They need to stop getting hurt first.
(Photo by David Banks / TODAY Sports)
