Ready for another lopsided matchup in ugly weather? Too bad.
TV: NBC Sports Chicago
Lineups:
| Braves | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Ronald Acuña Jr., RF | 1 | Andrew Benintendi, LF |
| Ozzie Albies, 2B | 2 | Yoán Moncada, 3B |
| Austin Riley, 3B | 3 | Luis Robert Jr., CF |
| Matt Olson, 1B | 4 | Gavin Sheets, DH |
| Marcell Ozuna, DH | 5 | Andrew Vaughn, 1B |
| Adam Duvall, LF | 6 | Braden Shewmake, SS |
| Michael Harris II, CF | 7 | Dominic Fletcher, RF |
| Orlando Arcia, SS | 8 | Nicky Lopez, 2B |
| Chadwick Tromp, C | 9 | Martín Maldonado, C |
| Reynaldo López | SP | Garrett Crochet |
Clubhouse Notes from James Fegan
-- Eloy Jiménez was ramping up activity and taking batting practice before Tuesday's game, which doesn't scan as someone being shut down for an IL stint. At the same time, he's out of the lineup for the second straight game.
“We feel like there’s a really good chance that happens," Pedro Grifol said on whether his starting DH would avoid the injured list. "That’s why we haven’t put him on there yet. But again, he has to continue to make improvements like he did from yesterday to today.”
-- Max Stassi begins his Triple-A rehab assignment Tuesday as he works his way back from inflammation in his surgically repaired left hip. Grifol pumped the brakes on how quickly Stassi could return by touting how much backing up Martín Maldonado is a full-time gig.
"Even though Maldonado is doing — I wouldn’t say the bulk of the catching — more than half of the catching," Grifol began. "Whoever the second guy is, that guy might play three, four days in a row because if we have to run for Maldonado, he’s playing. When we talk about checking boxes, he’s going to have to check boxes to where we’re comfortable and he’s comfortable playing three, four, five days in a row with maybe one or two starts in between."
-- Robbie Grossman was also added to the Charlotte Knights active roster on Tuesday. Since the 34-year-old signed too late to make any Cactus League appearances, I asked Grifol if he essentially has to get a full spring training worth of activity in at Triple-A. In conclusion, Grifol's answer was a land of contrasts.
"His voice is going to play a big part in this too on when he’s available and when he feels good, not just at the plate from both sides, but his body. And you can’t turn a six-week spring training into a two-week spring training and think that everything is going to be great. You hope so, [but] you have to check boxes, you have to talk to the player."
-- I'm sorry all of these points are just Grifol talking, but he also spoke about Mike Clevinger, albeit not in great detail as the signing is not expected to become official on Tuesday.
"Clev was a really good teammate here. He pitched really good baseball for us last year. He’s a really good competitor. So, we’ll see how it all plays out, but he certainly has some attributes that we saw last year that were on point to who we are and where we want to go."
