Palka OK after exiting with hammy tightness
Right fielder sustained injury due to dehydration; Cease working up to game appearance
![](https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1024/v1551041207/mlb/u0qb7t90yak6yn0obagg.jpg)
PEORIA, Ariz. -- White Sox right fielder Daniel Palka left in the second inning of Chicago's 5-4 Cactus League loss on Sunday with a tight left hamstring.
Palka flied out to center field leading off the second but felt the tightness with the step after he hit the first base bag. Palka, whose 27 home runs in 2018 tied for the Major League rookie lead with Miguel Andujar, is listed as day to day but said the cramping was gone by the end of the game.
“It’s annoying because it’s just a lack of hydration,” Palka said. “But everything was pretty normal, and they did some work on it. It was one of those things where it was not worth playing on Day 2 when you feel a little dehydration going on.”
Blake Rutherford replaced Palka and finished with three hits in the White Sox third straight Cactus League setback.
White Sox managing Cease’s workload
At some point in early March, Dylan Cease will get a Cactus League appearance. Up until that point, the No. 21 prospect in all of baseball per MLB Pipeline will be content working live batting practice sessions and sidelines such as the one he threw Sunday.
“It makes sense,” Cease said. “I’m just following whatever the protocol is. It’s above my pay grade. I’m just doing what they tell me to do.”
Cease is not yet a Major Leaguer and won’t break camp with the team, but he’s being treated as one by the White Sox even in the early stages of Spring Training. MLB Pipeline’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year posted a 12-2 record and 2.40 ERA over 23 starts between Class A Advanced Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham in 2018. He also reached his high-water mark in innings at 124.
So, if the White Sox envision him a part of their rotation later in 2019, with an overall innings increase, they want to do whatever possible to get him through this season-long work.
“We view him as a potential Major League pitcher both in the way he’s doing things now and in the near future,” said White Sox manager Rick Renteria of Cease. “We want to take a calculated approach to all his usage and preparation.
“Very bright. Very methodical, very thoughtful young man. Knows where he’s at and what he wants to do. He doesn’t do anything without having an idea of how to go about it. We want to make sure that the approach we take with him is measured so he can give us the most time available to us during the course of the year.”
In his second big league camp with the White Sox, Cease already feels a difference.
“The biggest difference is just feeling more like I belong here,” Cease said. “I kind of know what the process looks like a little bit better, where last year I didn’t necessarily feel like I deserved to be here, but I was happy to be here and learned a lot from it.”
Banuelos trying to take the fifth
If not for the White Sox, Manny Banuelos might be getting ready to pitch in Japan. That was one of his targets if he became a Minor League free agent.
But the White Sox didn’t let Banuelos get to that level, making a Nov. 1 trade with the Dodgers to acquire the 27-year-old southpaw.
“They surprised me,” Banuelos said. “I’m thankful they are going to give me the opportunity to show what I can do. I’m going to do my best and help the team win. When I got traded to the White Sox and they put me on their roster, I was very excited.”
Banuelos gets the start Monday in Scottsdale against the Giants. He’s in play for the fifth starter’s slot, but also could be used in long relief.
They said it
“He’s going to ultimately put his season in in the Minors, get his feet underneath him for a full season. It would be premature for me to speculate as to where he would be on the Major League side. But the real good ones end up pushing you. Very bright young man. Very polished.” -- Renteria, on Nick Madrigal
Up next
It’s a 1:05 p.m. MT/2:05 p.m. CT first pitch for the White Sox against San Francisco on Monday in Scottsdale, as they try for their first 2019 Cactus League victory. While Banuelos gets the start, Carlos Rodon will be one of the pitchers in a simulated game Monday back at Camelback Ranch.
Senior Reporter Scott Merkin has covered the White Sox for MLB.com since 2003.