The Daily Herald’s Scot Gregor opines that
Joe Borchard has evened up the race with Ross Gload for the last spot on the roster for position players. From quotes in his story, it seems that Borchard’s performance has drawn the attention of Ozzie Guillen:
“Joe is still in the mix,’’ manager Ozzie Guillen said. “He keeps hitting the ball. If he keeps playing like that, he’s going to make it interesting.’’
Only a week or two ago, Guillen was talking about Borchard’s propensity to let pressure crush him, and his quotes read with the same ominous tones that he used when he said Arnie Lopez didn’t have enough heart to stick in the major leagues. Despite a couple decent outings among an uninspiring group of relievers, Lopez was optioned out to Charlotte. Until a few days ago, Borchard seemed to be on the same track.
All things being equal, I’d say Borchard has a little more value, if only because he’s a switch hitter with more power and the ability to play more defensive positions well. But that’s not a knock against Gload, whose glove would come in handy at first if something happened to either Paul Konerko or Jim Thome.
And luck would have it, all things are equal at this point. Here are their batting lines.
BA G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI
R Gload .318 8 22 4 7 3 0 1 6
J Borchard .319 11 29 6 9 2 0 2 7
And in their last five games:
Borchard Gload
1 / 2 DNP
2 / 3 2 RBI DNP
1 / 2 1 RBI 2 / 2 2 RBI
2 / 5 3 RBI 1 HR 0 / 5 1 RBI
0 / 1 DNP
6 / 13 1 HR 6 RBI 2 / 7 3 RBI
Borchard has the advantage in that Gload has also been in Ozzie’s (or Kenny’s) doghouse. When the Sox needed a left-handed bat and a backup for Paul Konerko at the same time, they relied on Timo Perez while Gload was tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A.
I didn’t see Gload in action while I was down there, but I did get to see Borchard show some opposite field power in a game against the Giants. He seems like a slightly feistier hitter, though when you consider that he’s hitting against Triple-A pitchers, it dulls the buzz slightly.