The White Sox placed Luis Robert Jr. on the injured list 50 minutes prior to the first pitch of their game against the Giants on Sunday, which was enough time to make it retroactive to Thursday and potentially reinstate him at the earliest possible date, but not enough time to roster his replacement.
The Sox filled in that blank this afternoon by bringing back Brooks Baldwin, who seemed to be waiting for the call since he wasn't in the Charlotte lineup Saturday or Sunday. He raked in the nine games he played since his brief five-day stint on the 26-man roster in mid-June, though, hitting .343/.400/.743 with four homers and a triple.
He's starting tonight in center field, which has been a position of emphasis since the White Sox optioned him to Triple-A in May. He manned center in 12 of his 28 starts for Charlotte, although I'm still skeptical he'll hold his own there. For the time being, the hope is that the game won't find him like it did Ryan Noda in right.
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At some point last week, the White Sox placed Jake Palisch on outright waivers, but it only became known when the team announced on Sunday that he was outrighted to Birmingham, and thus no longer on the 40-man roster.
A similar maneuver with Nick Nastrini didn't work, as his placement on waivers only became known when the Miami Marlins claimed him today.
The timing is a little surprising, since it's not (yet) a corresponding move to accommodate a transaction that required the 40-man spot. The fact that Nastrini was on the chopping block? That's not so surprising.
His performances have been messy for most of the last two seasons, and a move to the bullpen in May failed to simplify matters. After some initial success in shorter stints, his control once again unraveled. He threw fewer than half his pitches for strikes over his last seven games, resulting in 14 walks and two HBPs over those seven innings. Nastrini's velocity has also been down, to the point that he threw harder as a starter in the majors (93.7 mph, per Statcast) than he did as a reliever in Triple-A (93.1).
It's a disappointing end for a pitching prospect with promise, and with Nastrini out of the organization, that saddles Jordan Leasure with the responsibility of salvaging the Lance Lynn/Joe Kelly trade with the Dodgers back in July 2023. At least that month's trade with the Angels is still looking like a steal.
First Pitch: White Sox at Dodgers
TV: CHSN
Lineups:
| White Sox | Dodgers | |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Tauchman, DH | 1 | Shohei Ohtani, DH |
| Chase Meidroth, SS | 2 | Freddie Freeman, 1B |
| Andrew Benintendi, LF | 3 | Will Smith, C |
| Miguel Vargas, 1B | 4 | Max Muncy, 3B |
| Kyle Teel, C | 5 | Teoscar Hernández, RF |
| Lenyn Sosa, 2B | 6 | Andy Pages, CF |
| Josh Rojas, 3B | 7 | Michael Conforto, LF |
| Brooks Baldwin, CF | 8 | Tommy Edman, 2B |
| Michael A. Taylor, RF | 9 | Hyeseong Kim, SS |
| Shane Smith | SP | Yoshinobu Yamamoto |
