Pregame notes: Mounting challenges

MINNEAPOLIS -- Munetaka Murakami was named American League rookie of the month for May, on account of him hitting .244/.382/.556 with eight homers. Personally, the only White Sox player I voted for was Davis Martin for pitcher of the month, but it's a sea change for the club to have multiple viable options.

"Love that for him, love that for us," Will Venable said of Murakami's honor. "So proud of him and the work that he's put in and the performance on the field. Very well-deserving of that award. He's just contributed in every way possible at the highest level."

Of course, this award currently serves as a reminder that Murakami is likely to miss all of June. He's not with the team on this road trip, and will remain in Chicago to receive treatment.

Noah Schultz is with the team and playing catch regularly, but that shouldn't be confused with his return being close. After throwing a bullpen on Sunday, his next one isn't scheduled.

"There's still some soreness in [his right knee], so they've backed off a little bit," Venable said. "So we just want to give him an opportunity to take a couple of days, give him a little bit of a blow and kind of back up."

It's been about a week since Schultz hit the injured list with right knee inflammation, so the chances of a minimum 15-day stay on the sidelines is probably by the boards at this point. David Sandlin getting a chance to stick in the major league rotation, and Erick Fedde getting more runway to get right are both a little bit by default until further notice, even with Hagen Smith now coming off back-to-back stronger outings with Triple-A Charlotte.

Venable said the staff has yet to have any discussion of reshuffling the rotation after the off day. They're expecting to start Anthony Kay, Sean Burke and Sandlin in that order in Philadelphia. Mostly, the Sox are just looking forward to two off days--Thursday and Monday--after a stretch of 13 consecutive games that wraps up Wednesday afternoon.

"It's huge," Venable said. "Especially for these everyday guys. Colson [Montgomery] had a half day off yesterday but you add that into two off days coming up, that gives him two and a half off days on the week. That's huge for an everyday guy like him to get through an entire season healthy and productive. Any time you get these off days close together, it has an impact."

Of course, Montgomery's half-day off kind of got canceled out by taking a slider to the knee.

"It did, it did, it was really a bummer on a day we were trying to get him some rest that he takes one off the knee," Venable said. "But he's all right. He'll be fine. He's a young guy with good, strong bones."

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Connor McKnight and Dan Plesac will be calling games on CHSN for the entire Phillies series. John Schriffen and Steve Stone are both off.

First pitch: White Sox at Twins

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

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