Notes: Katz on starters; Mendick in right field

White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz is presiding over Major League Baseball’s top starting rotation, which features a 2.77 ERA entering Saturday’s contest and a 20 1/3 scoreless-innings streak.

But Katz isn’t practicing victory speeches any time soon at the 31-game-mark of a 162-game season.

“I'm not the type of guy that kind of gets overly excited,” said Katz during a pregame Zoom on Saturday. “When the season's over and things go right, then I’ll be excited. I just go day by day.

“I feel like they give us a great opportunity to win each day. But I know there's gonna be bumps in the road, and it’s how fast we get back on track that’s the biggest thing. I'm happy with where we're at right now, that's for sure.”

Katz has to be beyond excited over the early-season performance of Carlos Rodón, who improved to 5-0 with a miniscule 0.58 ERA over five starts with six scoreless innings in Friday’s 3-0 victory. Rodón became one of just five pitchers in the last 75 years to win their first five starts with an ERA below 0.60, joining the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 (0.20), Boston's Pedro Martínez in 1997 (0.50), Kansas City's Zack Greinke in 2009 (0.50) and Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann in 2016 (0.55).

“I don’t think you can expect anybody to pitch that well,” Katz said. “But I did expect him to have good results and keep us in games and give us the chance to win.

“He's been superb, and I'm hoping that this continues. He's doing all the right things in between [starts], getting his work done. He's feeling good. Is it realistic that he'll keep putting all these great numbers together? I hope so. But he's probably going to give up a run here and there at some point.”

Mendick is all right
Danny Mendick has played second base, shortstop, third base, designated hitter and even pitched one inning this season during the course of his White Sox career. But Saturday’s contest marked Mendick’s debut in right field, although the 27-year-old has some experience in left field from Triple-A Charlotte.

“I hope they hit 27 balls out there to him. That’s how confident I am,” said White Sox manager Tony La Russa of the decision to use Mendick in the outfield. “If you ever come out early and watch, he gets all the infield work and then he goes out there in left, center and right and looks like a small version of [Luis] Robert. I hope the ball goes his way.”

“Be an athlete, go out and try to catch the ball, get it in and get it out,” said Mendick of his right field focus. “We’re down a couple guys, just try to help this team any way I possibly can.”

The White Sox are without starting left fielder Eloy Jiménez (surgery for ruptured left pectoral tendon), starting center fielder Luis Robert (right hip flexor tear) and reserve outfielder Adam Engel (right hamstring strain), leaving space in the outfield for Mendick.

His one scoreless inning thrown in Boston on April 19 was out of necessity after Lucas Giolito was roughed up over one-plus innings of work.

“That just helped my WAR out a little bit, maybe helped my versatility [as a] late game closer,” said a smiling Mendick. “I was joking saying I needed to get a bullpen in.

“It was fun. I got to do it at Fenway, I went to college in Boston, so it was pretty cool. It was great, would love to do it again and maybe work on my air cutter.”

Third to first
• La Russa watched Engel take batting practice Saturday and gave high marks to the outfielder’s ongoing recovery.

“He’s making progress,” said La Russa, adding he still doesn’t know an exact date for an Engel return.

• Brian Goodwin, a left-handed hitting veteran outfielder, finished 1-for-3 in his debut for Charlotte Friday night. Goodwin, who agreed to a Minor League deal with the White Sox this week, could provide help in center field during Robert’s absence.

“He’s got some speed and he has some pop,” La Russa said. “Solid pro, solid teammate. So I think it's a good move. Let's see how it works for us.”

• The White Sox lead the Majors with a .193 average with two strikes. Rookies Nick Madrigal (second, .316) and Yermín Mercedes (tied for ninth, .288) rank among the MLB two-strike leaders in 2021.

They said it
“I just went out there trying to throw strikes, and I end up striking out [Franchy] Cordero. That’s a memory I can share with my kids someday.” -- Mendick, on his first career pitching appearance.