While Bryan Ramos is expected to just be keeping Jacob Amaya's seat warm in Chicago, White Sox farm director Paul Janish did give an endorsement to his major league readiness while speaking to reporters Monday evening.
The organization does not exactly have a slew of guys hitting .291/.398/.557 this month at Charlotte from which to choose.
"I think you'll see him get the opportunity to play a little bit more before the end of the year at the major league level," Janish said. "After a slow first half of the season offensively, he's kind of picked it up."
It might help Ramos' case that Edgar Quero sounds unlikely to compete with him for one of the two extra roster spots the White Sox get at the start of September. Quero's own ambitions to return to games over a week ago always sounded a bit much, but Janish working to make it clear that his back injury is not season-ending is a statement in and of itself.
"At this juncture of the season I think we just need to make sure that he's completely healthy," Janish said. "It doesn't sound like it's anything terrible or long-term. I don't think he's done for the year or anything like that, but that being said, it just doesn't make a ton of sense to push him at this point. We're at the point of the season where if we did push him and he came back too soon and he got dinged up again, he's probably done for the year. So we're just trying to avoid that and see if we can't get him back on the field sooner than later."
In contrast to Quero, Mason Adams sounds like he could return to pitch for Charlotte by the end of this week, or possibly a little bit after. They will be shorter outings when Adams does return, as his last outing was over two weeks ago now. But the right-hander will get a chance to get a real sample of how his stuff plays in Triple-A this year barring any further setbacks.
Janish did not sound like he could be convinced to let Hagen Smith contribute to the Birmingham Barons playoff run.
"He has enough to start the conversation but I don’t know if we’re going to go there this year. For him, controlled environment and getting him a few outings at the minor league level to understand what the schedule looks and feels like, and getting him to know guys in the organization, that’s beneficial."
Decisions for who the White Sox will send to the Arizona Fall League could be completed by next week. Let's hope so, as this site needs all the content it can get.
