Where have you gone, Mike Tauchman?<\/p>\n
For White Sox fans who might yearn for the \u201cPalatine Pounder\u201d after a spate of injuries that have thinned the ranks of the team\u2019s healthy outfielders, be advised that Tauchman also is hurt.<\/p>\n
Tauchman, who had the highest OPS of any Sox outfielder last season in his platoon role (.756), was on track to win a job in the Mets\u2019 outfield as a non-roster player this spring until needing surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee late in camp.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, news came that outfielder Austin Hays, who pulled up lame the night before in a vain attempt to run down a fly ball that dropped in for a run-scoring hit, was put on the 10-day injured list with a strained right hamstring. To take his place, the Sox selected the contract of outfielder Dustin Harris from Triple-A Charlotte, creating a spot on the 40-man roster by putting pitcher Mike Vasil (Tommy John surgery) on the 60-day injured list.<\/p>\n
Harris pinch-hit in the ninth inning and drew a leadoff walk, but he was stranded in the Sox\u2019 4-2 loss to the Orioles at Rate Field.<\/p>\n
More startling was the belated announcement that outfielder Brooks Baldwin had undergone a season-ending ulnar collateral ligament procedure on his right elbow. On Monday, manager Will Venable said he had no update on Baldwin, who had been shut down after just eight games in spring training with soreness in his throwing elbow. The club announced Tuesday that Baldwin had undergone the procedure April 1 and is not expected back until the spring.<\/p>\n
It appears there were no extenuating issues that delayed the announcement beyond the team\u2019s hope Baldwin would avoid surgery.<\/p>\n
Is there a solution to the lack of outfield depth? Well, 23-year-old Sam Antonacci, an unexpected star in the World Baseball Classic for Team Italy, is getting a crash course in outfield play after mostly playing infield. The change in position hasn\u2019t affected Antonacci at the plate \u2014 he has a .346\/.528\/.615 slash line \u2014 and the Sox like the early returns in the field.<\/p>\n
But the operative word is early.<\/p>\n
\u201cSam is going to be a part of this thing,\u201d Venable said, \u201cbut he\u2019s got work to do. We think about Sam all the time, but in this case, Dustin was the right guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baldwin, who had been expected to compete for a starting spot in the Sox outfield, at least on a platoon basis, had told the club in spring he was unable to throw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something he\u2019s dealt with before,\u2019\u2019 Venable said. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t feeling like there was enough progress and had surgery.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Sox placed outfielder Everson Pereira on the 10-day injured list with a sprained ankle, retroactive to April 2. Pereira has been hitting and running, and said that while he\u2019s not 100 percent, he hopes to be back soon. He\u2019s eligible to come off the injured list on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Through the first 11 games, Venable has played mix and match in his outfield. Tuesday\u2019s outfield \u2014 Andrew Benintendi in left, Luisangel Acuna in center, and Derek Hill \u2014 had combined for one RBI. Benintendi has made three starts in left while primarily serving as DH. Hays had made eight starts.<\/p>\n
Acuna has made seven starts in center, Tristan Peters four. Peters has made four starts in right, Pereira five, and Hill two. Of that group, only Benintendi and Hays profile as established outfielders, and Benintendi\u2019s limits as an outfielder were underscored Tuesday when Peters came into the game as a defensive replacement.<\/p>\n
Harris, the Tuesday call-up, signed as a minor-league free agent after playing 19 games for the Rangers last season. He had a good camp, batting .500 (9-for-18). Venable said the left-handed hitting Harris likely will draw some starts against right-handed pitchers.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be surprised if the Sox plumb the waiver wire for outfield help. At Charlotte, the Sox have career minor-leaguers Dru Baker and Darrin Baker (son of Dusty Baker). Former Mets\u2019 top draft pick Jarred Kelenic, who washed out in Seattle and Atlanta, is off to a dreadful start (1-for-22, with 10 K\u2019s). So is first baseman-outfielder LaMonte Wade (2-for-25). Top prospect Braden Montgomery is still in Double-A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where have you gone, Mike Tauchman? For White Sox fans who might yearn for the \u201cPalatine Pounder\u201d after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,4,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-669493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-white-sox","14":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116366950209062323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}