Burger to play in collegiate league

CHICAGO -- Jake Burger, the White Sox top pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, will not be part of the team’s 60-man player pool for the 60-game 2020 season, with 16 additional names for the satellite camp in Schaumburg, Ill., announced Tuesday.

Burger, 24, has not played in a game since Sept. 4, 2017, for Class A Kannapolis, due to two ruptured left Achilles and a bruised left heel, so he has been given permission by the White Sox to play in the CarShield Collegiate League in O’Fallon, Mo. The third baseman tweeted a shoutout to the league, which shows all of its games live on YouTube, after the announcement by White Sox director of player development Chris Getz.

“We opted to take that route with Jake, because he hasn’t played games recently,” Getz said. “For him to face live pitching and run the bases and just be the baseball player that he is, we feel like that’s the best thing for Jake. We are excited for him. We are excited for the White Sox. We are just in a different place with Jake right now.”

Burger came to the White Sox with the idea of playing in what would be a local league, which would allow the right-handed hitter to sleep in his own bed every night. It’s a mix of some pro players and some college players.

“Considering his situation, we feel like regardless of who he is playing against or who he is playing with, this is something that he'll benefit from,” Getz said. “That really is what drove our decision.”

Anyone who has watched Burger take grounders or hit in the cage recently on video shown through his Instagram account knows he is in good physical condition, and now, he will get to turn that feeling into even better playing shape.

“He is in a really really good place,” Getz said. “Physically, there is no hesitation in what he’s doing. His lateral movement resembles what he looked like years ago prior to the injury. There are indications that he’s in a spot we haven’t seen prior to injury.

“So his confidence levels are very high. Physically, he checks a lot of boxes. At this point, it’s a matter of getting him in game activity so he can get at-bats and react to the ball off the bat and those types of situations.”

Grandal ready for playoff mode
White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal echoed the thoughts of teammate Dallas Keuchel in that this upcoming 60-game season will be in playoff mode almost from the start.

“I already have an understanding how you can go through a whole pitching staff in a matter of 60 games. Look at what Milwaukee did last year,” Grandal said. “You’re not going to have one or two bad innings or one or two bad starts. It’s going to be one of those things where everybody needs to be ready. I don’t think I’m going to see too many people go seven or eight innings.

“Around the league, guys are going to go five [innings] and the whole bullpen is coming right after. In our case, we have the ability to throw one or two starters in a game neck and neck. They go a full game so for us, that’s a plus. I know for us, on the pitching side, we’re in a good spot.”

As one of the veteran leaders, the switch-hitter will help the younger White Sox players adjust to this pace.

“Being a young guy and not quite understanding why we were making moves at certain times, it was hard,” Grandal said. “But until someone actually explained it to me, and I got to study it and understand the [reasoning], and seeing examples of it, once I learned that, I understood why you go a certain amount of innings, amount of pitches in order to bring your bullpen in.

“It’s going to be a process. These guys need to understand that, and understand it’s going to be for their benefit. A lot of these guys are young, they’re just getting their feet wet. This is a perfect opportunity for them to do it.”

Third to first
• Manager Rick Renteria, who traveled to California last Thursday for a family funeral, could be back with the team on Wednesday. Bench coach Joe McEwing, who filled in during Renteria’s absence, traveled to Philadelphia on Tuesday for family reasons as well.

• Wednesday’s intrasquad game was moved to the afternoon because of the evening forecast for thunderstorms in Chicago. The White Sox first night game will take place on Thursday.

• Luis Robert had an awkward slide on a stolen base in Tuesday’s intrasquad game, with third-base coach Nick Capra saying he got caught between a head-first and feet-first slide. The White Sox have moved Robert away from the head-first maneuver after he suffered left thumb injuries in connection to that move during his Minor League career.

“He really really worked hard in Spring Training,” Capra said. “We wanted to try to eliminate him sliding head-first, which is a natural thing for him. He had a hand problem sliding head-first. We got him an oven mitt he puts on when he gets out there.

“He’s going to be all right. It has been an issue in the past. We are going to clean it up and get him to where he needs to be.”

They said it
“There isn't going to be a gray area. Sixty games is a very small window that we have to put everything together, so it's going to be either really good or it's going to be really bad, just because you don't have the time to kind of take them by the hand and go from there.” -- Grandal, on White Sox pitching

“For him to get his work in at third is only going to make him a better first baseman. The most important thing right now is getting comfortable in a Major League stadium with Major League teammates. The results here initially have been really impressive, and we hope to build off of them.” -- Getz on Andrew Vaughn, the White Sox No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline