CHICAGO -- White Sox general manager Rick Hahn had more to talk about than an Avisail Garcia hamstring update when addressing the organization's injury situation during a pregame media session prior to Tuesday's series opener against the Cardinals.
Micker Adolfo, the No. 10 White Sox prospect per MLB Pipeline, suffered a setback during his throwing program with Class A Advanced Winston-Salem. The designated hitter/outfielder was examined by doctors in Chicago on Monday and will undergo Tommy John surgery in the upcoming weeks.
Adolfo, 21, sprained his ulnar collateral ligament and suffered a strained flexor tendon during Spring Training. But instead of undergoing immediate surgery, Adolfo served as the DH for the Dash and hit .283 with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs this season. It was determined at the time of the original injury that Adolfo could do no further damage by hitting, although Adolfo and the team knew surgery would be likely eventually.
"We're hopeful to have him back in the vicinity of 8-10 months, which would have him hopefully with an affiliate by May 1 of next year," Hahn said. "Obviously not great news for Micker, but going back to Spring Training, initially we were concerned he was going to end up missing the entire year, and at least this way Micker was able to get over 300 plate appearances at Winston-Salem.
"He had a very solid year from a development standpoint, and will be back in time -- assuming everything goes smoothly -- with a chance for essentially a full season in 2019. It should not set him behind too far developmentally, but obviously not great news for the kid personally."
Garcia was placed on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to July 9) with a strained right hamstring after he left Sunday's game against the Astros. It's the same hamstring that put Garcia on the DL from April 24-June 22 earlier this season, but Hahn pointed out this injury is in a different area of the hamstring and more mild in nature.
"Our doctors and training staff are optimistic that we could have him back as soon as the start of the second half," Hahn said. "Obviously we'll see how it unfolds here over the next few days, but it appears to be more mild than the last time."

Outfielder Ryan LaMarre was added to the active roster in place of Garcia, after LaMarre, 29, was claimed off waivers Monday from the Twins. He batted .263 with five doubles, eight RBIs and seven runs scored in 43 games over four stints with Minnesota this season before being designated for assignment on July 2. LaMarre, who bats right-handed and throws lefty, will wear uniform No. 25.
Pitching coach Don Cooper was also out of action for the start of the series against the Cardinals after having off-day surgery on his right hand. Unfortunately for the White Sox, it has been an injury-filled season as they continue to rebuild.
"At the same time, we know a couple things. If you have a great number of prospects, a great number of young players that people are interested in, the odds of some of them, or multiple of them, getting hurt are higher," Hahn said. "Just the nature of the business. I think it reinforces some of the tenants or mantra you've heard us repeat from the start of this entire rebuild going back the last 18 months.
"We need to build depth, we need to build enough redundancy within our own system, so when things like this happen, we have alternatives. We don't want any player to get hurt, but we want to put ourselves in a position to have enough premium talent on hand that we can fill whatever voids are created by these setbacks."