It is Jackie Robinson Day, which means there's a lot of 'Breaking Barriers' t-shirts being donned during team stretch and everyone is No. 42 today. But the occasion should also be a reminder that we're not too far removed from racial animus making this country we live in demonstrably worse for everyone in it, and that it took and will continue to take conscious work to keep such forces at bay.
"Means a lot beyond baseball," said Will Venable. "As a biracial kid, whose parents at a time in their life weren’t even legally allowed to be married. Jackie Robinson was one of the people at the forefront of that moment to do the right thing and progress our civil rights."
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Korey Lee was able to play catch on Tuesday with his sprained left ankle, mere days after shedding his walking boot and crutches, and will be hitting off the Trajekt machine soon to start building back his offensive timing.
"Credit to he and the training staff doing a lot of work getting that fluid out of there and getting him more mobile," Venable said. "Because I know he just couldn’t move his ankle there for a while, and couldn't put any weight on it. Lot of hard work and good recovery. You take it day-by-day. You know, James [Kruk] understands the urgency of getting him back out there. Korey understands the urgency."
Andrew Benintendi took batting practice again as he works his way back from his adductor strain. He's eligible to return on Thursday, though Venable didn't make it clear that he will.
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Andrew Vaughn is hitting .113/.175/.208 through 14 games while mostly batting middle of the order, which is obviously not ideal. His Statcast expected numbers put him north of an .800 OPS, and hitting coach Marcus Thames sharply contrasted his early cold stretch with last year's season-opening slump, since Vaughn's current hard-hit rate would be a career-high.
Venable was asked about his read of his first baseman.
"Different guys need different things," Venable said. "Getting to learn Vaughny, he’s very much a team leader. He shoulders a lot of the leadership responsibility for our guys. I’m just trying to be supportive of him. I think at this point where he’s continuing to grind at-bats and put good swings on baseball, I know he’s not where he wants to be but the way he conducts himself, he signals that he’s a confident player that is just around the corner from performing like he knows he can."
First pitch: White Sox vs. Athletics
TV: CHSN+
Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WTRO 1200 AM (Spanish)
Lineups:
| Athletics | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Butler, RF | 1 | Miguel Vargas, 3B |
| Brent Rooker, LF | 2 | Luis Robert Jr., CF |
| Tyler Soderstrom, 1B | 3 | Lenyn Sosa, 1B |
| Shea Langeliers, C | 4 | Andrew Vaughn, DH |
| J.J. Bleday, CF | 5 | Chase Meidroth, 2B |
| Miguel Andujar, DH | 6 | Joshua Palacios, RF |
| Jacob Wilson, SS | 7 | Michael A. Taylor, LF |
| Gio Urshela, 3B | 8 | Jacob Amaya, SS |
| Max Muncy, 2B | 9 | Matt Thaiss, C |
| Jeffrey Springs | SP | Sean Burke |
