White Sox finalize 30-man roster ahead of Friday’s opener

The White Sox have announced which players will make up the 30-man roster ahead of tomorrow’s opener against Minnesota. Here’s a complete look at who made the cut:

Pitchers (16)

• Aaron Bummer (LHP)
• Dylan Cease (RHP)
• Steve Cishek (RHP)
• Alex Colome (RHP)
• Jimmy Cordero (RHP)
• Ross Detwiler (LHP)
• Jace Fry (LHP)
• Lucas Giolito (RHP)
• Gio Gonzalez (LHP)
• Kelvin Herrera (RHP)
• Codi Heuer (RHP)
• Dallas Keuchel (LHP)
• Jimmy Lambert (RHP)
• Reynaldo Lopez (RHP)
• Evan Marshall (RHP)
• Carlos Rodon (LHP)

Catchers (3)

• Zack Collins
• Yasmani Grandal
• James McCann

Infielders (7)

• Jose Abreu
• Tim Anderson
• Cheslor Cuthbert
• Edwin Encarnacion
• Leury Garcia
• Danny Mendick
• Yoan Moncada

Outfielders (4)

• Nicky Delmonico
• Adam Engel
• Eloy Jimenez
• Luis Robert

Official List of Roster Moves

• Reinstated INF Yoan Moncada from the injured list;
• Recalled C Zack Collins and RHP Jimmy Lambert from Triple-A Charlotte;
• Purchased the contracts of INF Cheslor Cuthbert, OF Nicky Delmonico, LHP Ross Detwiler, and RHP Codi Heuer from Charlotte;
• Designated RHP Carson Fulmer for assignment;
• Optioned RHP Ian Hamilton to Charlotte;
• Released INF Andrew Romine;
• Reassigned RHP Drew Anderson, OF Luis Basabe, RHP Dane Dunning, OF Luis Gonzalez, RHP Tayron Guerrero, RHP Tyler Johnson, INF Nick Madrigal, C Yermin Mercedes, and INF Andrew Vaughn to the Schaumburg training facility;
• Signed INF Ryan Goings as a free agent and assigned him to the Schaumburg training facility;
• Placed OF Nomar Mazara on the 10-day injured list yesterday.

The key name missing here, unsurprisingly, is second baseman Nick Madrigal. The organization will never say this but they’re taking part in the ol’ service time game. The club’s fourth-ranked prospect will now spend roughly a week with the taxi squad in Schaumburg before making his Major League debut. Will an extra week’s worth of training really make him any better of a player than he is right now? You all know the answer to that and probably prefer that he be on the team from the start. Anyways, while the organization gains their extra year of control, look for a combination of Danny Mendick and Leury Garcia to get playing time at second base.

Taking a glance at the rest of the position players, the team opted to stick with Zack Collins over Yermin Mercedes as their third catcher. Collins is more valuable of the two, providing a left-handed bat and better option behind the plate if needed. As for the outfield, there isn’t a lot of depth there but Nicky Delmonico moves from the bubble to the roster after the recent placement of Nomar Mazara on the 10-day injured list. I would imagine we primarily see a platoon between Leury Garcia and Adam Engel, but Delmonico could sneak his way into the lineup thanks to his left-handed bat.

As for the pitching side, there aren’t any real surprises here either. Rick Renteria alluded to bringing on about 15 or so pitchers the other day in a press conference, and it’s apparent the team chose the best arms. While on the topic, the initial starting rotation for the first five games was also revealed prior to this roster announcement. The team will be rolling with Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, and Reynaldo Lopez in order this weekend. The trio will then be followed by Dylan Cease and Carlos Rodon against Cleveland early next week. We’ll see how this order holds through the next few weeks since Renteria has the option of throwing Gio Gonzalez into the mix should someone struggle or if the skipper just wants to get creative.

One final thing to note about today’s announcement is that further reductions of the active roster will be coming later in August. Each team has to reduce its roster from 30 to 28 players by 11:00 am CT on August 6th, and then 28 to 26 by 11:00 am CT on August 20th. Our Jordan Lazowski offered his early predictions for which players he believes will stick around here.

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