The White Sox's shortage of healthy position players on the 40-man roster led them to explore one unexpected corner when they promoted Bryan Ramos directly from Birmingham, which simultaneously addressed an infield hole while testing Ramos' mettle.
Now they're going back to the Barons in order to find a center fielder, as sources confirmed to James Fegan that they're calling up Double-A speedster Duke Ellis. The White Sox haven't yet announced a corresponding move, but there's the potential for several maneuvers this afternoon because Andrew Vaughn has a sprained finger, while Dominic Fletcher banged up his left shoulder robbing a home run in Milwaukee on Sunday.
Ellis isn't a ready for an MLB audition in the classic sense. Signed by the White Sox as an undrafted free agent out of Texas after the five-round draft in 2020, Ellis is a career .238/.344/.306 hitter over 64 games at Double-A, including a .258/.341/.308 line over 141 plate appearances this season as the team's fourth outfielder. That's a little bit of a mischaracterization with regards to usage and intent, but Terrell Tatum, Wilfred Veras and Jacob Burke have received more playing time this year, so "fourth outfielder" is technically correct.
However, Ellis possesses the best tool of any White Sox minor league outfielder, and that's his speed. He leads all of minor league baseball with 34 steals in 35 attempts, made all the more impressive by the fact that he's just short of an everyday player.
If the White Sox wanted to give one of their outfield prospects everyday playing time, Ellis wouldn't be the first choice. But Ellis is 26 and already accustomed to coming off the bench for very specific use cases, so he's better suited for a short period of sporadic playing time on a White Sox roster that is suddenly short on left-handed outfielders who can cover center.
Having watched Ellis a fair amount between Winston-Salem and Birmingham, he's an electrifying presence when he gets on base -- or when somebody gets on base for him. I'd caution that his hyper-aggression probably won't work as well against more advanced defenses, but that concern first requires him to be in a position to run. One foot in front of the other.
José Rodríguez suspended for gambling
When the White Sox unceremoniously designated José Rodríguez for assignment in April, it was an unpopular move for a couple of reasons:
- It removed a previously promising infielder at the start of a season where every potential rosterable option might be needed.
- The move made room for Mike Clevinger, of all people.
Both objections have been validated. As we just discussed, the White Sox had to call up Ramos because they had nowhere else to turn, and Clevinger is another one of those pitchers who signed after spring training, only to look like he really could've used the preseason.
However, I'd heard the White Sox had soured on Rodríguez for reasons beyond his on-field production, which made them comfortable with the decision despite the obvious counterpoints.
Well, today, Major League Baseball announced that Rodríguez was among five players suspended for gambling on baseball. I wasn't given any indication that gambling was the subject of discontent, but that kind of decision-making provides some tangible evidence of the issues they had with Rodríguez's makeup.
Rodríguez was suspended a year for bets he made -- 31 in total -- while a member of the White Sox organization. The details from the MLB press release:
*Betting data shows that on September 30, 2021, and from June 5, 2022 through July 30, 2022, Rodríguez placed 31 baseball bets, comprised of three bets on college baseball games and 28 MLB-related bets while he was on a Minor League contract with the Chicago White Sox. His MLB bets included seven bets involving the White Sox’ Major League team while he was assigned to the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. Two Club-related bets involved the outcomes and his other Club-related bets were on whether there would be more or less than a certain number of runs scored in the game.
*In total, Rodríguez bet $749.09 on baseball, with $724.09 of that on MLB-related bets (an average of approximately $25.86 per bet). His MLB bets included parlays, which sometimes included multiple MLB-related legs and would sometimes include MLB-related legs and non-MLB legs.
*Rodríguez did not appear in any of the games on which he bet, and he did not make any bets involving his assigned team. There is no evidence to suggest — and Rodríguez denies — that any outcomes in the baseball games on which he placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way.
When Rodríguez rebounded with Double-A Reading (.264/.329/.422 over 38 games), I'd wondered whether the White Sox would've preferred the Rodríguez-specific headaches over the complications of scrambling for solutions. That's not much of a question anymore.
