No honest person could even try to pretend that something interesting happened pregame today at Guaranteed Rate Field. I say this even though they made a roster move Wednesday morning, optioning Prelander Berroa and recalling lefty Jared Shuster.
Shuster would have been on regular rest for his next start in Charlotte on Wednesday, but instead he’s a left-handed multi-inning option against a very lefty heavy Twins lineup. Pedro Grifol termed it as another measure to address a taxed bullpen, which recorded the last 14 outs Tuesday night in relief of Michael Soroka.
With Garrett Crochet on workload limitations, pretty much no big leads to work with ever, and non-Erick Fedde starters always looking like they’re walking a tightrope, lengthy starts are a rarity for the Sox. Maybe Mike Clevinger will fix everything with the 2024 White Sox, as we’ve long suspected.
“I would say this year not even a handful of times we’ve had every reliever available in the bullpen,” Grifol said. “Which is normal, that happens to a lot of clubs. But we have to protect these guys. We can’t have guys making 75 appearances this year.”
Bryan Shaw would have totally been down for 75 appearances, but it’ll have to come with the Salt Lake Bees right now.
– Eloy Jiménez hit three home runs in a six-game span last week and while I confirmed that all those balls were hit in the air, it unfortunately has yet to represent a meaningful trend in that regard. His 58 percent ground ball rate and related .149 ISO at present would be career-worst marks if they held for the season.
“It’s really important to him to get the ball in the air,” Grifol said. “He knows that. He works on that every single day, that’s his main focus every day when he gets to the ballpark. Easier said than done. All he has to do is continue to work, put the time in. He’s done this before, he’s hit before, he’s hit at this level. It’s early in the year for him, especially for him because he missed some time. He’s doing good, as long as his body is good we’re in a good spot.”
– Coming off his first homerless month since his rookie season, Andrew Clayton Vaughn is batting cleanup on Wednesday. Sitting at .190/.259/.238 on the season with a career-high strikeout rate, Vaughn is not at a place where he’s making good contact and just trying to pull more of it in the air, but rather trying to return to a good place in his pitch selection.
“Just seeing the ball deep, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Vaughn said. “Just not going out to get it and trying to create something. Letting the ball come to me and taking a good swing at it. Every hitter will say ‘the deeper you see it, the longer you get to see it.’ Trying to recognize it and it’s kind of baby steps: pitch by pitch, try to get better, better recognition and so forth.”
– With Mike Clevinger joining the team next week, those White Sox will be getting even grayer soon.
“You can’t just run this with just young guys,” Grifol said. “That’s not in anybody’s best interests, as a club or theirs as young players trying to develop.”
First Pitch
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Lineups:
| Twins | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Kiriloff, LF | 1 | Robbie Grossman, DH |
| Edouard Julien, 2B | 2 | Tommy Pham, CF |
| Carlos Correa, SS | 3 | Gavin Sheets, RF |
| Max Kepler, RF | 4 | Andrew Vaughn, 1B |
| Byron Buxton, CF | 5 | Andrew Benintendi, LF |
| Trevor Larnach, DH | 6 | Danny Mendick, 3B |
| Carlos Santana, 1B | 7 | Korey Lee, C |
| Willi Castro, 3B | 8 | Paul DeJong, SS |
| Christian Vázquez, C | 9 | Braden Shewmake, 2B |
| Bailey Ober | SP | Chris Flexen |
