Carlos Rodon tossed live batting practice Wednesday and said he felt good, although there’s still no timetable for him appearing in a Cactus League game as the White Sox continue to monitor his progress after he experienced arm fatigue a season ago.
The 24-year-old left-hander threw 40 pitches, and Rick Renteria said the plan is for him to do the same thing Saturday.
“He’s going to throw another BP in two days, and from that point we can hopefully assess whether it’s going to be another BP or he can get back out there,” Renteria said.
The White Sox manager said Rodon is still on track to start within the first handful of games during the regular season, and Rodon himself said nothing has changed as far as his expectations to start the season.
“I know I’m in the rotation so I know I’m going to be pitching in April,” Rodon said. “It’s spring training. We’re getting ready still. Spring training is a time for us to get ready and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Neither Rodon nor Renteria seemed overly concerned with his progress, and Rodon did speak in some detail about what he’s been working on when he has thrown.
“(Working on) refining the change-up and just having everything ready for April,” Rodon said. “You always can get better at something, and the change-up is something I’m still working on. It’s good, but I want it to be great.”
- Todd Frazier made his first appearance of the Cactus League season on Wednesday after dealing with a strained oblique, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout, exiting the game after four innings. He made good contact in his first at-bat, lining out sharply to left field. He said after the game that he felt good, and Renteria seemed confident that he’s on schedule, saying he just wanted to get him out there in action and would see how he progresses from there.
- Carson Fulmer looked good through two innings of his second start and third appearance of the spring. He was getting ahead of hitters and inducing weak contact, something he said he’s been trying to improve through his work with pitching coordinator Richard Dotson.
“I’ve been able to throw a lot of strikes,” Fulmer said. “I feel very good about where I am. Especially at this level, you have to get ahead of guys. I was able to pound the strike zone and it felt really good.”
Fulmer ran into his share of trouble at times. In the second inning, he fell fell behind Eric Thames before allowing a double, and walked Kirk Nieuwenhuis. And in the third he allowed a few hard hit outs and a solo homer to Lewis Brinson for his lone run allowed on the day. His final like was 3 innings, two hits, one run, one walk, two strikeouts. - Avisail Garcia went 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored, and also made two nice running catches in the outfield (he also bobbled a ball in the second, turning a maybe-double into a definite-double). Rymer Liriano also homered, but the White Sox lost 5-4 when Juan Minaya gave up a two-run homer to Ivan De Jesus Jr. in the top of the ninth.
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