Since the start of the 2022 season, 60 percent of the White Sox's innings in right field have been covered by guys who had been career infielders. I could expand the pool by guys who don't have traditional right fielder profiles for one reason (Leury García) or another (Eloy Jiménez), but even if you limit the pool to Gavin Sheets, Andrew Vaughn and Romy González, that still covers three-fifths of the playing time.
Naturally, when the opponent hits a fly ball in that direction, and the right fielder isn't immediately in the picture, I assume he's not going to come close to getting there.
Enter Adam Haseley, who entered the screen during the third inning on Saturday a few frames after the initial camera cut, then centered himself in the shot with an impressive diving catch to rob Michael Massey and avenge Michael Kopech, because the former Michael ruined the latter's perfect game bid with a soft single the night before.
Haseley doesn't have a traditional right fielder profile himself, but it's a reminder of the kinds of plays the Sox forgo by ignoring that corner year in and year out.
And the big picture is only getting cloudier. Haseley only started on Saturday because Gavin Sheets was a late scratch due to a jammed wrist he suffered on a slide. He was theoretically available for pinch-hit duties, but later Saturday, Daryl Van Schouwen reported that Clint Frazier will be in a White Sox uniform today.
For extra confusion, Pedro Grifol says he's thought about giving Jake Burger some reps out there.
The timing makes it possible that Sheets' injury is a bigger problem than the Sox initially let on, but the simple swap is that Frazier replaces Jake Marisnick as the team's right-handed outfielder, mostly because I always forget that Marisnick is on the 26-man roster, and this would take care of the 40-man spot as well.
Frazier is the most interesting player of the extras, if only because he had a stretch where he looked like something (.267/.347/.497 over 108 games with the 2019-20 Yankees), his subsequent slide had a real reason (concussion issues), and he couldn't have posted a gaudier 16-game sample with the Charlotte Knights if he had 100 chances (.375/.478/.879 with seven homers and 10 walks). There's also some situational intrigue, in the sense that Oscar Colás could've been recalled if the White Sox just needed a body, so the Sox might be buying what they're seeing.
But you also have to temper expectations because Frazier wasn't a good defensive outfielder even at his best, and the fact that he was freely available at the end of April suggests he's something less than that now. It doesn't help that the Yankees just DFA'd Aaron Hicks with 2½ years and $27.6 million remaining on his deal, because he, too, posted strong performances for the Yankees in 2019 and 2020 before his production collapsed.
In other auxiliary outfielder news, the San Diego Padres designated Adam Engel for assignment. He signed a major-league deal there for $1 million, but he had a false start to his season due to a spring hamstring injury, and then he went 0-for-6 for his Padres career. He was also caught stealing in his only attempt. The local write-up is unsparing.
The Padres had seen enough.
Of Azocar’s rehab assignment, for sure.
Of Adam Engel, apparently, too.
Azocar boarded a plane Saturday morning and was in the lineup in center field against Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale. Meantime, Engel packed up his locker entirely and walked out the clubhouse doors Saturday afternoon as he was designated for assignment after just six at-bats (0-for-6) over five games after signing a big-league deal this winter.
The White Sox are back to that situation where every player who hits the waiver wire triggers the "Maybe he could help?" reflex before actual reasoning kicks in, but it'd be nice if Frazier were the end of that for one reason or another. Ideally, it's because he's helping. It's also ideal if somebody, anybody else does.
