HOUSTON – White Sox right-hander Tanner McDougal’s major league debut on Aug. 13 was the realization of a lifelong dream, both for him and his father Mike, who pitched for six professional seasons but topped out in Triple-A.
It also saw him walk three batters and plunk another to force in a run, prompting the ballyhooed prospect’s return to Charlotte for the following two and a half weeks.
“It sucked, but I felt like I got over it relatively quick compared to other ways I could have handled the situation,” said McDougal, who felt his return to the minors was a necessary reset. “Talked to Davis [Martin] a little bit when he was rehabbing down in Charlotte. He kind of gave me some good insight on when he struggled, when it feels like it’s speeding up on him, what he does about it. That helps me a lot.”
Ever since McDougal went down with a flexor strain at the end of April, there’s been a frenzied nature to his season. The 23-year-old felt the arm injury itself stemmed from trying to compensate in his delivery for the hamstring tightness he experienced the outing before it.
The White Sox moved him to relief with the view that there wasn’t enough time left in the season to build McDougal up to starting again and still have him help the major league team. And McDougal feels his erratic control and performance, still on display as he walked six and allowed seven earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings in Triple-A in between big league call-ups, has come from still-lingering bad mechanical habits that have yet to be fully ironed out.
He sees progress, even if the minor league results don’t show it yet.
“Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten back to what is normal,” McDougal said. “Just try to stay through the ball as long as possible. I think I’ve been a little peel-y this year, peeling off pitches late, which is causing stuff to run back over the middle.”
The concept of McDougal at his best, which offers high-90s velocity and a slider that racked up massive miss rates in Double-A last year, sounds like a late-inning bullpen weapon. It also sounds like he’ll have to prove his way into such a role.
“He’s going to be part of our future here, whether that’s near-term or long-term,” said manager Will Venable. “He’s a guy we are really excited about.”
Montgomery ready for home stretch
Even though he finished it by launching his 50th career home run on Monday, Colson Montgomery had an August to forget, batting .200/.277/.360 and striking out in a whopping 42% of his plate appearances.
Nevertheless, he ended the month feeling confident in his plate approach, and what it needs to look like going forward.
“I’m going to take my walks, and then if you throw a ball over the plate, I’m probably going to do some damage on it,” Montgomery said. “You want to do it consistently and it’s really hard to, but I feel good.”
Martin set to return
It won’t be official until the White Sox can reveal the corresponding roster move, but Martin is expected to be activated off the injured list to start Wednesday’s game.