Pregame notes: Will the vibes ever be good again?

Luis Robert Jr. is possibly/likely/probably done for the year, and Colson Montgomery is dealing with a recurrence of the left side discomfort that sidelined him for a game in Atlanta, so the possibility of a White Sox player hitting a very long and very fun home run Wednesday night is significantly diminished.

"We've MRI'd it, and it's clean," said Chris Getz of Montgomery. "But he still feels something a little bit, and we're going to make sure that that's under control. We had something similar pop up on our last road trip.
He got out over it fairly quickly, got back in there, was productive, like he's been since he's been here with the major league club. So we anticipate doing the same thing when the time's right."

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There's a .400 BABIP involved (and also a sub-20 percent strikeout rate), but it's sort of insane how good Kyle Teel has been offensively since the All-Star break. He's hitting .340/.392/.511 in the second half, and seeing him in the top or the middle of the lineup is no longer a surprise.

"I've just been trying to follow my process every day," Teel said. "The results are really great, but I feel like it all comes down to my process and doing what I have to do before the game, and what happens in the game happens."

Teel is obviously hitting more regularly than ever thanks to the presence of Korey Lee on the roster freeing up Will Venable to deploy both rookie catchers. So, three catchers forever?

"It’s a six-month season, there are going to be times where it makes sense and perhaps not so much others," Getz said. "You’re dependent on the rest of the roster. I do think we’re getting very good versions of all of them based on the setup, but we also know that we’ve got a team we want to field where we are optimizing the entire group and not just pieces. It’s serving us well right now. How sustainable? It’s very dependent on what else is going on with this team."

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Maybe all these injuries are just an opportunity for...I don't know...Andrew Benintendi to show he can still take over a game.

"It’s not an easy thing to do because of the production [Robert] was providing, but it’s an opportunity for other players to step up," Getz said. "It’s a resilient group. It’s a young, energetic optimistic group on a daily basis. I think everyone in that locker room and coaching staff and around the organization, and fans, are disappointed to not be able to watch Luis Robert tonight. With that being said, there’s still a pathway to win. There’s a pathway to victory and Will does a tremendous job in mapping that out for our players."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Royals

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WRTO 1200 AM

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