First pitch and notes: White Sox vs. Guardians

—Colson Montgomery was originally in the lineup Thursday, but was scratched for back spasms. The White Sox say it’s a precautionary measure and that Montgomery is day-to-day. But given that Montgomery missed a big chunk of the 2023 season for back issues and is a rare source of offensive upside in the farm system, no one would begrudge you for a light burst of panicked screaming, within reason.

UPDATE: Montgomery said he felt the issue during batting practice but reiterated that he has “zero concern,” and is playing it safe in light of it being an early spring training game.

—Bryse Wilson is wearing a bandage on his right forearm after absorbing a Jake Cronenworth comebacker in his Cactus League debut on Wednesday.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be today,” Wilson said. “We’re good. Just take the day off from throwing and it’ll be fine tomorrow.”

With the way Sean Burke has looked in camp and during his own debut, Wilson is competing for essentially the one open rotation spot alongside a large host of pitchers stretching out in camp. He’s slated for three innings his next time out, but pitching coach Ethan Katz said that Wilson and some of the other candidates throwing multiple innings right now (Nick Nastrini, Rule 5 pick Shane Smith, Tyler Gilbert, for example) could slot into the Opening Day bullpen if they fall short of the five-man rotation.

—As every team does once per spring, the White Sox clubhouse hosted a presentation/meeting with MLBPA executive director Tony Clark. In keeping with the theme of the White Sox putting an invigorated emphasis on pitch framing, Clark acknowledged the slow creep toward an automated ball-strike system raises concern about how it will affect how catchers are valued.

“It is always interesting to me, the game has been around for 150, 160 some-odd years, but we've seen more things change in the last few than we ever have at any point in time,” Clark said. “It may very well affect catchers, and we're going to get input from them in regards to how it may affect them and the things that we may need to share and discuss with the league in order to ensure that we're not devaluing players on the field.”

--Luis Robert Jr. is probably the only White Sox player who wants to look at his offensive numbers through five winless games, but Miguel Vargas' defensive struggles at third--right after being named as the primary option there--are standing out early.

"He’s working hard," said Will Venable. "He’s going to continue to work hard. I think that there’s some specific things he needs to clean up but he’s working extremely hard to do it."

--WiFi is down at Camelback Ranch. If anyone is able to read this, please tell James' wife that he loves her.

First Pitch: White Sox vs. Guardians

TV: CHSN

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