Pregame notes: Roberto Clemente Day

September 15 is the day that the corporate behemoth that is MLB has designated to celebrate the philanthropic legacy of the late Roberto Clemente. In that vein, Mike Tauchman was named the White Sox nominee for the award, largely in recognition for the veteran outfielder and his wife Eileen raising over $39,000 for families in need of craniofacial medical support.

"Anybody that plays this game knows the story of Roberto Clemente, not only who he was as a player and what he meant to the game in that way, but also as maybe our best example of how to be a better person off the field," Tauchman said on Monday. "My wife deserves a lot of the credit, sort of the genesis of the idea. And the White Sox were great in helping us execute, using some of their connections. But it's a cause that is deeply personal to us. The support from family, friends, fans, all of the above, it has meant a lot to us."

The young daughter of the Tauchmans underwent a procedure this summer to address a cleft palate, which is another reason why the family has been thankful to stay close to home in Chicago for the past three seasons.

"The last three years have been great," Tauchman said, before delving into levity. "I wish the highway project moved a little faster, personally. I was really happy when the express lanes opened up. Sleeping in your own bed, coming off a long road trip and getting to go home, especially now having our daughter and having her surrounded by our family and how exciting that's been, it's been really nice."

Big leaguers, they commute to work, just like us.

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Grant Taylor threw a high-effort bullpen on Monday to test out his groin. By his description, the intensity of his pregame work is the only reason his return to action from a right groin strain won't come immediately.

"I feel really good considering I threw a pretty high intensity pen today, I might be down today," Taylor said. "Try to be available tomorrow. Depends on how I feel."

Taylor threw 20 pitches and Will Venable didn't say anything to indicate that Taylor's optimism is ill-founded. He will probably finish with just over 60 innings pitches on the season if he returns to regular usage down the stretch, and Taylor feels pretty good about that too.

"Energy level, arm feels amazing," Taylor said. "Unfortunate a little hiccup with my groin. Overall body feels good."

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White Sox farm director Paul Janish was asked about Noah Schultz's recurrent right knee patellar tendinitis on Monday, and confirmed he's done for 2025.

"It’s still being treated as tendinitis and at this juncture I don’t think it’s going to be a surgical situation, so that’s a good thing at the end of the day. Shutting him down for the season and doing the appropriate stuff, starting immediately with the goal of next spring training, having him as strong and as healthy as he could be.

I do give Noah a ton of credit for the way he handled this situation just from the standpoint, I think if we are being honest, he was dealing with it a little bit more than he led on at certain times of the year. To give him credit, he really wants to pitch and really wants to be on the field which obviously we value.

At this point, get him healthy for next spring training going into next year to be as ready as he can be to hopefully at some point contribute to the major league team. That’s kind of where we are at right now."

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Tyler Gilbert is opening for Sean Burke. Please remember that before looking at the lineup and getting alarmed.

Edgar Quero posted some cool Roberto Clemente-themed catching gear on his Instagram, but he's DH-ing Monday night. But if Kyle Teel gets hurt and for some reason Venable chooses to give up the DH and switch Quero behind the plate instead of using Korey Lee for the exact reason Lee is here, oh baby, look out.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Orioles

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WRTO 1200 AM (Spanish)

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