Pregame Notes: If only it were raining as much as Bryan Ramos is chasing

Is there anything Pedro Grifol can say that's more pressing than that Luis Robert Jr. is on track and flying out to Charlotte for his rehab assignment Sunday? He would start playing for the Knights on Tuesday.

Is there anything more relevant for Sunday than that Garrett Crochet will start if this game gets played, and is not about to get switched out for an attempt to get Michael Soroka through five soggy innings--at least per current indications from the White Sox?

The Sox announced at 12:18 pm that the first pitch will be delayed by rain that is supposed to last past 1:00pm, but they are initially signaling an intent to play. A long day at the park or a lost off day? It would be a burning question if the flames weren't doused by rainwater.

-- Bryan Ramos is down to a .250/.263/.306 batting line in 36 plate appearances, which looks more professional than that because he's only struck out four times. If you take the Statcast plate discipline leaderboard, and slide the plate appearance minimum to a comically low barrier of 30, Ramos' 13 percent swing rate on pitches out of the zone is tied for the third-lowest in baseball.

He's tied with Zach Remillard, who is getting a start a short on Sunday after surviving a purge of Zachs when Ramos was activated.

"It’s been a pleasant surprise," said Pedro Grifol. "Because when you first get up here, the first five or six games, the league doesn’t really know you, but then they get to know you right away. Now you’ve got the advance scout, the analytics people watching you, everything is happening. They make adjustments quickly. And you can tell, the first week he got pitched very little inside, then he starts getting pitched hard inside. So it’s been a little bit of an adjustment for him. He’s done well, he’s done really well.”

-- Tanner Banks has a ho-hum 4.70 ERA while pitching in a thankless Swiss army knife role, but his 26.7 percent strike rate and 4 percent mark for walks would suggest the 32-year-old is throwing better than ever.

The White Sox place a big emphasis on retiring leadoff batters of an inning and throwing strikes in two of the first three pitches of an at-bat (if you've heard Grifol make quick reference to "two out of threes" in a press conference, that's what it is), so there are plenty of other indicators for Banks to hone in on rather than the most surface-level results. But in seeing the damage he's taken while admirably controlling the strike zone, there's been talk that he could afford to throw some more pure chase pitches.

"That's been a topic of conversation for us," said Banks. "It's getting ahead, getting [count] leverage, and knowing when to and when not to expand. You watch the best pitchers and it's exactly that. They know when to pour in the strikes and when to nibble a bit. The nature of the hitter is that they want to hit. For the most part, they don't want to go up there and walk. It's giving them something enticing and then giving them another look."

First Pitch: White Sox vs. Orioles

TV: NBC Sports Chicago

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