Pregame notes: A more major league-ready Nick Nastrini?

As it turns out, Nick Nastrini catching pneumonia at the end of spring training proved to be kind of a big deal, or at least worth listing among the 197 things that broke wrong for the White Sox this season to accelerate their death spiral.

Compensating for velocity loss and wonky feel for his mechanics while the difficulty of competition ramped up proved to be deleterious for the 24-year-old right-hander's fastball command. After a small mechanical tweak to make the location of his back foot more consistent in his delivery, and hitting rock bottom in terms of results and frustration, Nastrini has a 2.45 ERA over his last four outings in Triple-A Charlotte. Most encouragingly, Nastrini has walked fewer than eight percent of opposing hitters over that span.

"Him and R.C. [Lichtenstein] have been working really hard on consistency and getting the source of that," said Brian Bannister. "He's an exciting talent, it's an exciting arsenal. He went through some similar stuff in college, so I think he's learned how to adapt and fight through that. When his stuff is competitive from a location and command perspective, it's nasty. He's in a good spot.

I know a lot of people have been supporting him in that pursuit as far as execution and repeatability and figuring out that side of it. Because you don't question his stuff, it's more from pitch-to-pitch how consistent his reps are. I think he's trending in a very nice way right now."

Dominic Fletcher is hitting .304/.316/.357 in 15 games while getting regular playing time in the Grady Sizemore administration, but it's an emptier .304 batting average than he'd like.

"I think there's more in the tank," Fletcher said. "I think being on time for the heater is something I struggled with early. I'm starting to get there a little bit. But just being aggressive and being in that go mentality from the first pitch of the at-bat."

The path toward Fletcher's offense being above-average likely lies in being exceptional at being on base, so it could be alarming that his swing rates have simply jumped in all areas of recent--in and out of the strike zone. But Fletcher generally agrees that more aggression is a good indicator feeling more comfortable at the plate, and that he's fully removed from the initial stiffness he had when returning from his shoulder sprain.

While he's been happy to start grabbing some hits and distinguishing himself with his right field defense, Fletcher feels when he can start driving fastballs with consistency is when his offensive profile will round out.

Lenyn Sosa's infield defense has been distinguishing itself in the most unusual ways of recent, and he's also hitting .177/.198/.190 in the month of August.

Between Miguel Vargas and Bryan Ramos (and maybe even Yoán Moncada) potentially gobbling up all third base opportunities, and Brooks Baldwin and Jacob Amaya providing new options in the middle infield, it would stand to reason that Sosa would start getting squeezed out of opportunities. Sosa being out of options next spring is another element of his window with the White Sox likely closing.

He's been playing pretty regularly under Sizemore though.

"Just trying to find a balance, trying to find the matchups, trying to get guys where they're playing three or four out of seven," Sizemore said. "It's kind of day to day and there's going to be guys who are a little tired or nicked up, and really just trying to find a good mesh and keep guys hot and keep guys engaged."

Baldwin is currently dealing with some hand/wrist discomfort after an awkward swing, which serves to explain his very recent absence in favor of Sosa.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Ranges

TV: NBCSCH, MLBN (out-of-market)

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