If Only

If only this were the Luis Robert Jr. who showed up for every game, like the one in Pittsburgh last night who went 2-for-2 (plus two walks!) with two runs scored and two runs batted in and who made a great play in the outfield. But that would be too much to ask. So, you take what you can get, the Robert who showed up yesterday and may or may not today. In the meantime, you savor that play he made, running to deep left-center field to make a diving, backhand catch of a ball off the bat of the Pirates’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the bottom of the third. And you also cross your fingers that these are the real Jonathan Cannon and Edgar Quero. Cannon needed just 86 pitches to throw seven innings of one-run ball in a 10-1 Sox win. The 25-year old righty didn’t walk anybody, which is great, while only striking out two, which probably leaves the analytics’ crowd flustered. Those are the people who put a premium on strikeouts, damn’ the likelihood of injury to the pitcher. Instead, Cannon went old school, and depended on his fielders. Along with Robert, Michael A. Taylor had a nice, sliding catch in left field in the second inning, when the Pirates had two on and one out and it was still a ballgame at 3-0. Old school works for me. As for Quero, he had a double and a homerun, along with two runs scored. Right now, Quero’s hitting (.274 BA, 21 RBIs in 190 at-bats) is ahead of his catching, but we’re talking about a 22-year old here. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the Sox should be playing both their catchers as much as possible. In the name of Mike Heath, you just don’t have to play one position if you’re a catcher. Odds are, manager New-Mickey Venable will sit Quero and start Kyle Teel; it seems he’s learned his lesson not to DH one of his catchers while playing the other behind the plate. Bad things can happen, like losing the DH when you pinch run for the catcher. Fellow rookie Colson Montgomery has a better chance than Quero to play again tonight. The only question is where? Venable put Montgomery at third with Chase Meidroth at short; it was Montgomery’s second start (and third appearance) at the hot corner vs. eight starts at short. Does the Sox “brain trust” see Montgomery as a possibility at third base? Instead of Josh Rojas? If only.

Treading Carefully

Everyone was over for Michele’s birthday yesterday, my grandson, of course, wanting to hit in the backyard. At one point, he was on the backporch, practicing his swing, Tiffany-inspired lampshade be damned. Nothing got smashed. I made sure to give Clare a story in the Tribune about Kim Ng and the new Athletes United Softball League. The story had two takeaways—Ng has spent most of her career in major-league front offices and an AUSL game drew 2000 fans, apparently an impressive number. The birthday girl cum grandma wanted pizza for dinner (along with chocolate cake from the Oak Park Bakery, talk about your recipe for a night of dreaming). This meant a trip to Carbone’s in Berwyn, by the Burlington Northern tracks. I had to wait a few minutes, which was just enough time to see what the bar had on the TV. As in a guy striking out against a softball pitcher. So, I’m guessing this was ESPN or the MLB Network, part of an effort to elevate softball to equal status with baseball. The baseball-player-striking-out-against-softball-pitching is a staple in women’s sports, dating to at least to 1961, when Joan Joyce struck out Ted Williams. Never mind Williams was just short of turning 43. Joyce was 20 at the time. What if Williams were, too? And how about some money on the line? Maybe the results would’ve been the same. Even if they were, questions remain. The most obvious one is this: If a great softball pitcher can strike out a great—or even a good—major-league hitter, why aren’t there women pitching in the bigs? What, they don’t want to? Do I think a woman can pitch in professional baseball? Yes, but not windmill style. To the best of my knowledge, Joyce wasn’t standing 60’6” when she faced Williams. Hand size and leg size would tend to work against a female pitcher, unless she could be another Tim Lincecum (5’11”). I could see that. Where I really think women could excel would be at the plate. Pick a guy 6’ or under, and a female hitter could do that. But baseball—and softball, for that matter—runs from the possibility. Better to establish a Negro Leagues 2.0 than look for the next Jackie Robinson. But if I make this point too strongly or for too long, someone I cherish gets upset. So, I tread carefully, pass along a story, make a simple point and ask for another piece of pizza.

Compare and Contrast

Milwaukee is what you might call a small-market city. By contrast, Chicago is a big market where the sports’ teams often go small. The White Sox are the Brewers, minus the track record. Right now, the Brewers are one game behind the Cubs—whose ownership pretends not to belong to a billionaire family—in the NL Central. The White Sox are in a slightly different position in the AL Central, trailing the first-place Tigers by 27 games. I’m not hopeful they can close the gap. The Brewers are smart, the Sox not. Milwaukee traded for Andrew Vaughn and then found a way for him to produce, as in ten RBIs in fourteen at-bats. In exchange, the Sox received pitcher Aaron Civale, who’s gone 0-4 with a 5.58 ERA in six starts. Good luck flipping him. Far be it from me to dump on Sox GM Chris Getz, at least not until I’m done fulminating over the reign of his predecessor, Rick Hahn. Back in 2022, Hahn selected pitcher Peyton Pallette in the second round; Pallette is 6-15 with a 4.35 ERA over three minor-league seasons. Hahn could’ve taken Jacob Misiorowski, which the Brewers did with the next pick. Need I say more?

Well, That Was Dumb

Baseball is nothing if not dumb at times, like last night’s All-Star Game in Atlanta. It’s hard for me to say which I disliked more, the automatic-balls-and-strikes system (ABS) or the tie-breaker format. The idea behind ABS is to get calls right. OK, but do you want a game decided by a pitch the system calls not so much “in” the strike zone as “on” the line? That’s pretty much what happened in the top of the ninth, after the American League had tied the game at six with two runs in and the go-ahead run at second base, two outs. Randy Arozarena took a called ball that the NL appealed and the ABS determined was a borderline strike. End of rally. The NL couldn’t do anything in the bottom of the ninth, so it was time for the tie-breaker, used for the first time ever in an All-Star Game. Each side picks three players, each of whom gets three soft-toss pitches to hit; team with the most homeruns wins. To which I can only say, where was Aaron Judge for the AL? Most likely showered and long gone from the park after being lifted for Arozarena in the bottom of the fifth. Lucky for the NL Kyle Schwarber was still around to jack three balls into the stands. Four homers for the NL, three for the AL. NL wins. The Yankees’ Aaron Boone managed the AL. Boone obviously didn’t consider the possibility of a tie or, if he did, wasn’t able to prevail on Judge or any of the other AL starting players to hang around. I can see why Yankees’ fans might not be in love with Boone as their manager.

Same Old Same Old

The White Sox took two high school players, a shortstop from California and an outfielder from nearby Nazareth Academy, with their first two picks in the MLB draft Sunday. You have to wonder why, given their recent track record with prep athletes. In 2019 and 2021, two out of their first three picks were high schoolers, and one in 2020, 2022 and 2024; only in the 2023 draft did the Sox go with three college players in the first three rounds. And that strategy resulted in what, exactly? Out of seven prep players drafted, only one, first-round selection Colson Montgomery class of ’21, has reached the major leagues, and to say that doubts linger about Montgomery’s bat would be an understatement. Otherwise, names like Matthew Thompson; Jared Kelley; and Wes Kath serve more as brainteasers than prospects for Sox fans. Wait, there’s more. Here are some of the college players the Sox drafted in the first three rounds during that same period: Andrew Vaughn; Garrett Crochet; Sean Burke; Jonathan Cannon; and Grant Taylor. High school or college? You be the judge.

Is It Me?

Is it me, or does White Sox manager New-Mickey Venable basically look clueless in the dugout? Put another way, what good is a bullpen if Venable doesn’t know how to use it? A team like the Guardians—a minimum of three switch-hitters and three lefthanded hitters in the lineup all four games—can pose a problem for any righthanded-leaning staff. The Sox presently have no lefty starters (the sooner Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith get here the better) and three lefty relievers. Maybe pitching coach Ethan Katz could introduce them to their manager. Friday’s game went ten innings; lefty relievers threw 1.1 innings. On Saturday, Venable replaced starter Sean Burke with righthanded Jordan Leasure, and you know what that meant, yes? Leasure coughed up a game-tying homerun to lefthanded-hitting Kyle Manzardo. Wait, there’s more. Yesterday, the Sox carried a 3-0 lead going into the sixth inning with Aaron Civale pitching. With the bases loaded and one out, Civale didn’t think to cover first base on a double play that would’ve gotten him out of the inning. I’d be tempted to lift him just for that bonehead play. But, No, Venable let Civale pitch to Manzardo, righty-lefty, and the lefty hit a three-run homer in a game Cleveland won in ten innings. Things will go better in the second half. Right? Sure.

By the Numbers

Another game for the White Sox, another loss (6-2 to the Guardians), another pathetic display of hitting yesterday. Nothing says no-pop like six singles to go with eleven strikeouts. Part of the problem is talent. GM Chris Getz and manager New-Mickey Venable seem content to run out the likes of Josh Rojas (.176 BA in 159 at-bats) and Will Robertson. Who he? A pickup this week from the Bluejays. After going 1-for-10 for Toronto, the 27-year old (dare I say journeyman?) outfielder has fit right in on the South Side, going 0-for-5 in two games. But part of the problem is…you tell me. Chase Meidroth looked great for a while, but now he could pass for Jacob Amaya at the plate; the rookie second baseman is batting an anemic .159 over his last 30 games. Miguel Vargas is another guy who went from hot to cold, as in .182 over his last 30 games. And Luis Robert Jr., well, if only he ever got hot or lukewarm even. But a .189 BA on the season points to cold, cold, cold. Did I mention ex-Sox Andrew Vaughn, who needed 185 at-bats to manage 19 RBIs before he was sent down, and then traded to the Brewers? Since being recalled by Milwaukee this week, Vaughn has gone 6-for-14 with two homeruns and ten RBIs. Why is that?