White Sox pitching prospect Dane Dunning made his MLB debut Wednesday night and he showed flashes of why he was a first round draft pick in 2016. After overcoming elbow injuries in the last two years, Dunning struck out seven in 4.1 innings against the Tigers.
Dunning left his first start trailing, but saw the White Sox come back to tie the game and eventually win it with a pair of home runs in the eighth.
However, White Sox fans won't be seeing Dunning for at least 10 days and probably a bit longer, as he was optioned back to the team's training site in Schaumburg Thursday morning.
The corresponding move? Nicky Delmonico was added to the roster.
All right, so let's break this down.
The White Sox have next Monday and Thursday off, so that gives them a break in their starting rotation, as they're currently missing 2/5 of their starters and already have veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez filling in one of the slots.
So, Dunning wasn't going to be used at the earliest in the rotation for another two weeks. No need to burn his roster spot by just having him sit in the bullpen.
But, why Delmonico?
Could it be that Luis Robert's hand injury is more serious than the team is letting on? The White Sox rookie was taken out after he tried to make a diving catch on Tuesday and then sat out last night's game.
Rick Renteria said on Wednesday that he was hopeful Robert would return on Thursday, but the center field won't be back in the lineup for the series finale against the Tigers.
At this point there's no reason to think it is serious because they could have just put Robert on the injured list by now.
So, why Delmonico?
The White Sox already have two other left-handed hitting outfielders in Nomar Mazara and recently called up rookie Luis González. Why not just call up another reliever?
Anyway, here's today's starting lineup, with Lucas Giolito on the bump.
