SOP

SOP

 

When the White Sox signed free-agent outfielder Jon Jay this week, they had to put him on the 40-man roster, which was already full.  That meant taking someone off.  Outfielder Charlie Tilson drew the short straw and was designated for assignment.  This was all standard operating procedure for a major-league ball club.

 

Tilson, from the North Shore suburb of Wilmette, gambled that he had enough baseball talent to enter the 2011 MLB draft right after high school; the Cardinals took him in the second round.  Then the injuries started, first a dislocated shoulder requiring surgery followed by a broken foot.  In sports, too many injuries, and by that I mean more than one, give coaches and front offices pause.  I know my daughter never told anyone about her shoulder.  It started hurting the summer of eighth grade and kept hurting until her surgery for a torn labrum twelve years later.  But it’s hard to hide injuries once you turn pro.  When the Sox acquired Tilson in 2016 for reliever Zach Duke, St. Louis may have been more than happy to unload a player they considered injury-prone.

 

Tilson made his major-league had the misfortune of making his major-league debut in a game James Shields started, which is to say Tilson did a lot of running that August night in Detroit; one Shields’ base hit too many led to a torn hamstring for the rookie center fielder; so much for making an impression with his new team.  Things didn’t get any better for Tilson in 2017; foot and ankle injuries basically cost him the season.  In total, Tilson has lost close to 2-1/2 years to injuries.

 

Ironically, Jon Jay’s game—left-handed bat, speed, defense—was what Charlie Tilson’s game projected to be before the injuries accumulated.  Where does a 26-year old ballplayer go after being DFA’d?  Probably to another organization, or, if no opportunity presents itself, Japan or an independent-league team.  Baseball doesn’t feel the need to give local players a break because a pro team is just a business.

Still, the one thing Tilson has going for him is the game he’s good at.  Baseball allows players to find or reinvent themselves in a way football doesn’t.  To be cut from an NFL team at age 26 is pretty much a ticket to retirement, as it is in the NBA (though pro basketball players have been known to come back off the scrap heap).  Tilson is a local kid who plays hard.  Maybe his next break won’t involve any bones.  I hope so.