Pregame notes: Thorpe family photo Album

Drew Thorpe will have his grandfather in attendance for his fourth career major league start Friday night--his first in Chicago. He won't be watching from the stands, but the photography well adjacent to the White Sox dugout. Thorpe's grandfather is a photographer and the team issued him a media credential for the game.

As I write this, he's been moving through the stadium and taking shots of the field at different angles as he gets a feel for his surroundings, wearing a crisp White Sox fitted at full Dad Hat height. Stoicism appears to run in the family.

It should make for some great additions to the Thorpe family photo album, presuming the game gets played.

"I'm hoping that once we start, we don't have to stop," said Pedro Grifol of the weather forecast. Chad Kuhl, Jared Shuster and Michael Soroka (three innings on Wednesday) are all likely to be unavailable out of the bullpen.

"Every pitch is critical today, every play that we get to make that we have to make is critical for pitch economy. The rain is going to be a big factor for us too because we can't afford any type of stoppage. We can't control it, but we certainly can't afford it."

-- Mike Clevinger is still on track to throw a bullpen on Sunday. If his stiff neck does not bother him, he will throw a rehab start with Triple-A Charlotte, likely on Wednesday. After that, Clevinger would be on track to rejoin the White Sox rotation. Grifol sounded disinclined to use another bullpen day to give Thorpe, Garrett Crochet and Jonathan Cannon extended rest. Instead, the Sox would simply use their starters on regular rest through the next road trip.

-- Gavin Sheets is out of the lineup Friday night against a right-handed starter, and is unlikely to play Sunday against left-handed Kyle Freeland. But despite his bruised left heel, any reps he will get are likely to be in right field, so he's been testing out his foot on the presumption that he needs to get it ready to play the outfield.

"We might not have that luxury," Grifol said of playing Sheets elsewhere. "Him playing first base either puts [Andrew] Vaughn on the bench or Eloy [Jiménez]. Right field's the one place where we can put him."

Sheets is a .252/.350/.418 hitter against right-handed pitching this season, but a -7 DRS in right field.

-- Dominic Fletcher is beginning a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League. He's about three and a half weeks removed from spraining the AC joint in his left shoulder robbing a home run in Milwaukee. Fletcher initially hoped to return in 2-3 weeks, but was informed by the Sox training staff that he could feel soreness for as many as six weeks.

-- Matt Foster's rehab from last spring's Tommy John surgery has been transferred to Triple-A Charlotte. Corey Knebel, who has been working back from shoulder capsule repair surgery, is headed to High-A Winston-Salem. Both had been in the ACL up to this point.

-- Draft prospect Jac Caglianone visited with Sox officials at the park on Thursday, as part of pre-draft meetings that saw the University of Florida star also meet with the Reds and Guardians recently.

Grifol lauded Caglianone's makeup and hitting ability, and spoke as though Caglianone profiled as a first baseman. The Sox manager did note that Ben Broussard is part of Caglianone's representation. Grifol joked about regretting trading Shin-Soo Choo for Broussard when he was a part of the Mariners front office, but it's worth remembering that Broussard was part of White Sox player development under Chris Getz not too long ago.

-- Quiet enough that I didn't realize until looking it up, Soroka has a 3.54 ERA in 20 1/3 innings since moving to the bullpen, with his peripherals in a similar decent spot. He has struck out 37.6 percent of the batters he's faced in relief. The 26-year-old right-hander been more consistently mid-90s since the move to the pen, but also thinks his mentality has been clarified.

"Over a start day you get a chance to sit back and really try to plan things, you try think about this, that and the next thing," Soroka said. "You think about what you want to do in certain counts. But sometimes we get away from dominating Pitch No. 1, and moving on from there."

FIRST PITCH: WHITE SOX VS. Rockies

TV: NBC Sports Chicago

Lineups: