After rumors of arrival die down, White Sox promote Sam Antonacci

Sam Antonacci's entire game is built around forcing the issue, so it makes sense that his promotion to the White Sox was less of a well-orchestrated introduction, and more of a disheveled, harried response.

Twitter rumors of his call-up for a joint debut with Noah Schultz on Tuesday weren't exactly shot down, but eventually proven to be premature when he traveled with the Charlotte Knights to Jacksonville and played in opening game of the six-game series against the Jumbo Shrimp. Then this afternoon, the White Sox social team blasted a "Welcome to the Show" greeting across its channels well before the rest of the front office announced the corresponding moves to open spots on the 26-man and 40-man rosters.

That news came a half-hour later. Antonacci is up, and Dustin Harris has been designated for assignment to make room on both rosters. In an unrelated swap of left-handed relievers, Tyler Gilbert is up from Charlotte, and Brandon Eisert goes down to Triple-A.

Perhaps the White Sox intended this series all along, but didn't want Antonacci to get second billing for Schultz's hotly hyped first MLB start. Maybe it was more about lefty opposing starter Shane McClanahan, which wouldn’t have provided the typical soft landing the Sox covet for prospect debuts. Or maybe the Twitter tips screwed up the order of operations in informing players, and they wanted to reset the clock so everybody received word about the official date before they learned about it elsewhere. It was clunky however it happened, to the point that Chad Pinder's convoluted means of giving players the good news may look dry and straightforward by comparison.

Offensively, Antonacci warrants the promotion. He's been an on-base machine for the Knights, hitting .313/.500/.479 with 15 walks and three HBPs over 14 games. He's also 5-for-5 stealing bases. He's shown more of an A-swing early, with a pair of homers and two doubles, but otherwise, he's still more likely to stop at first base, then spend the rest of the inning looking for every opportunity to travel the other 270 feet.

Defense is a bigger question. The transition to left field is going OK from a catch-and-throw standpoint, but he's had one close call in center, and then a collision with William Bergolla Jr. in shallow left field, as he learns the finer points of communicating while sprinting all-out.

He does give the White Sox offense somebody to watch, and they're in sore need of entertainment sources. There's the natural interest in seeing how well he acclimates to big-league pitching, sure, but there's also a visible intensity that's easy to pick up even during mundane moments, be it slapping his helmet after an HBP, attempting to bait throws to first base, or deking baserunners at every opportunity in the field. The question is whether this aggression backfires against more sophisticated defenses, but every coach I've talked to maintains that nearly all the risks he takes are calculated, and they've trusted his mental math.

That said, the promotion is still a strange one, in that there wasn't an injury to prompt the mid-series action. Harris did what he could with his 16 plate appearances, hitting .250/.438/.333 with four walks against one strikeout, stealing two bases in two attempts, and making an important catch at the right field wall. That's the kind of production Antonacci might seek to replicate over his first six games, the first of which is apparently happening Wednesday night.

As for Eisert, he returns to Charlotte after giving up four runs over a combined 2⅓ innings across his two appearances, a rocky start in his attempt to replicate last year's staying power. Gilbert hasn't exactly been a standout in Charlotte, but this revolving door is likely to keep spinning all season regardless of recent performances.