The White Sox are getting closer to a few different kinds of movement all at once.
Munetaka Murakami is on the doorstep of his return, Austin Hays may not be far behind, and the trade deadline is creeping up fast. For now, though, the most immediate development is Murakami, who is set to begin building back toward the active roster with a first-base assignment in Charlotte.
“He’s going to play tonight at first base, five to seven innings and see how it goes,” Will Venable said. “There’s a game plan to build him up throughout the week, kind of take it day by day to see how he’s feeling and recovering and see if he’s getting enough at-bats. And then hopefully at some point before the break, we’ll activate him.”
Charlotte Knights manager Chad Pinder laid out a three-day plan for Murakami in an interview with Kendall Smith, with first base work in his first two games. That setup points to a possible activation before the A’s series.
If Murakami does come back, the Sox will need to make room. Venable said, “We will have to option someone or send someone out,” and noted that the club has kept winning even without him. He also singled out Jacob Gonzalez, who has stepped up in Murakami’s absence and is hitting .382/.432/.588 over his last 10 games.
Hays is on a slower track, but Venable said his ramp-up could put him on a rehab assignment after the All-Star break. Everson Pereira is still dealing with post-concussion symptoms that flare up at times, so his timeline remains less defined. In the meantime, Junior Pérez continues to fill the right-handed corner-bat role against lefties.
The front office side of the calendar is closing in too, and Venable kept his comments on possible additions pretty measured.
“We are always looking to get better,” Venable said. “There are a lot of different areas where we can get better.
I’m focused on what we can control. There’s stuff defensively, baserunning-wise, the way we are executing on the mound we need to improve.
My job is to make sure we are doing a better job internally. [Chris Getz] will figure out what additions might be able to help us out.”
On the pitching side, Seranthony Domínguez remains more of a work in progress than a fixed late-inning answer. Venable said, “His stuff just moves so much,” and added, “We are trying to harness his stuff and get it into the zone.
I think that’s something we know all the guys are working on. It’s important to pitching.
For him it’s different considerations, whether it be catcher targeting or when he’s trying to start some of these pitchers. We just have to find a way to get him in the zone.”
That fits the way Venable has handled the back end of games anyway. He said the Sox will keep sorting out the late innings based on matchups and available pockets in opposing lineups.
“You can call these guys whatever you want to call them and we are going to find the best spot for these guys to be successful, and do everything we can to find the right pockets of opposing lineups, and there’s all kinds of considerations as we try to find a path to the end of these games,” Venable said. “It's going to look different every single night.”
Trevor Richards, who has moved from low-leverage work into more meaningful spots lately, said the approach doesn’t really change no matter the score.
“It’s still the same game, it’s still the same thing, so any situation that you're thrown out there as important,” Richards said. “You've got to go at it the same way you would in a five-run game.”
As for the game itself, the White Sox are set to face the Red Sox with first pitch on CHSN. The White Sox lineup has Miguel Vargas leading off at first base, followed by Randal Grichuk as the DH, Colson Montgomery at third, Chase Meidroth at second, Sam Antonacci in left, Junior Pérez in right, Kyle Teel catching, Luisangel Acuña at short and Tristan Peters in center. Noah Schultz is scheduled to start.
Boston’s lineup has Anthony Seigler leading off at second, with Ceddanne Rafaela in center, Wilyer Abreu in right, Willson Contreras at first, Romy Gonzalez at DH, Caleb Durbin at third, Jarren Duran in left, Andruw Monasterio at short and Connor Wong catching. Payton Tolle is set to start for the Red Sox.
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