Rodón (shoulder) goes on injured list
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White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodón, who was scheduled to start the MLB at Field of Dreams Game against the Yankees on Thursday night, was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Sunday with left shoulder fatigue. The club recalled right-hander Matt Foster from Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday to take his place on the roster.
“[On Tuesday], Carlos came in with some arm soreness,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “The reality is pitchers’ arms get sore. It’s an extremely violent, at times, way to make a living. And you treat the soreness, and then it gets to a point where you think, ‘Hey, let’s be careful,’ and that’s where we are.”
Rodón is 9-5 with a 2.38 ERA, 160 strikeouts (13.13 K/9) and a .189 opponents' batting average over 19 starts this season. Among American League pitchers with at least 100 innings, Rodón ranks first in strikeouts per nine, WHIP (0.96) and opponents' batting average while ranking second in ERA and strikeouts.
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Rodón travelled back to Chicago on Wednesday for further examination. Just his mention of soreness and fatigue was enough for the team to take action.
Rodón, who pitched only 42 1/3 innings from 2019-20, does have a history with this sort of issue. He missed the end of the '17 season and a few months into '18 with left shoulder inflammation.
Rodón dealt with left elbow inflammation for much of 2019, then in '20 he missed all but 7 2/3 innings with left shoulder soreness.
Given that his IL stint is retroactive to Sunday, he’ll be eligible to return as soon as Aug. 18. But La Russa called that timeline “overly optimistic.”
“If it happens, great,” the manager said. “If it doesn’t, we’ll be patient.”
Foster, 26, is 0-1 with a 1.17 ERA (1 ER/7.2 IP) and 14 strikeouts over seven appearances with Charlotte this season. He also has gone 2-1 with a 5.64 ERA (19 ER/30.1 IP), one save, two holds and 33 strikeouts in 29 relief appearances over three stints with the Sox in 2021.
Grandal sent for rehab assignment
In brighter news, the White Sox sent catcher Yasmani Grandal to Double-A Birmingham to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment.
Grandal, 32, has been on the 10-day injured list since July 6 with a torn left knee tendon. He is hitting .188/.388/.436 (34-for-181) with 14 home runs, 38 RBIs, 42 runs scored and 60 walks over 63 games this season, his second with the White Sox.
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La Russa has been amazed by Grandal’s progress in his recovery.
“A lot of it, I think, is his toughness and his willingness to work,” La Russa said. “He’s shown that over and over again. He’s been dogged, man. And I mean that in a complimentary way, since you know how I feel about dogs.”
Over his last 26 games prior to suffering the injury on July 5 at Minnesota, Grandal was batting .256/.392/.561 (21-for-82) with eight homers, 20 RBIs and 20 runs scored.