CLEVELAND — Entering Tuesday night, the White Sox haven’t had a pitcher complete six innings in 22 games. So when it comes to assessing whether David Sandlin will get another chance to start after not allowing an earned run in 5⅔ innings on Sunday, manager Will Venable didn’t waste time hiding the ball.
“We just take this series by series,” Venable said. “But I would say he’s earned another opportunity, for sure. I think that’s safe to say.”
Beyond the immediate need for results over the season’s final 11 games, Sandlin clearly returned from his latest exile to Triple-A as a different pitcher. Despite his high-90s velocity and offseason work on a Davis Martin-style kick changeup, Sandlin couldn’t pump four-seamers to major league hitters without getting hurt, and lacked tools with which to retire lefties in his previous Chicago stints.
“Sat down with [senior adviser to pitching Brian] Bannister in Triple-A, actually in Nashville right after the All-Star break,” Sandlin told the Sun-Times. “Just talking about introducing [my sweeper] to lefties early in counts, backdooring it. We really hammered that home. It showed success, and makes the hitter need to lean out over the plate, and then I can take a shot inside.”
Combined with tweaking the shape of his cutter to make it harder, shorter and mirror his fastball better, Sandlin has evolved his game in a manner many hard-throwers have to accept at the major-league level. Where he once overwhelmed lesser hitters with velocity, now his fastball is a change-of-pace, finishing weapon after he’s slowed hitters down with the other parts of his seven-pitch mix.
Schultz up, Urquidy out
Neither Jose Urquidy nor Noah Schultz had pitched in the last week, suggesting the former was without a steady role, and the latter was readying for a call-up. Urquidy was designated for assignment on Tuesday to make room for Schultz, whose newly prescribed multi-inning relief role will probably be better understood after first viewing.
“You’re looking at spots in the game where — we talked about it earlier today — where you can envision a time through the order at least,” Venable said. “Kind of a multi-inning weapon.”
Schultz had a 1.66 ERA over five starts in his last minors stint, and is excited about an improved changeup. Mostly, like the majority of baseball players, the Oswego native seems happier to be part of a major-league playoff race than a Triple-A rotation.
“It’s such an important time of the year,” Schultz said. “I’m doing, obviously, whatever I can to help contribute.”
Montgomery sits versus a lefty
At this point in his tenure, Venable prioritizing the platoon advantage is as sure as the sunrise. But Colson Montgomery sitting against Guardians left-hander Foster Griffin on Tuesday actually went against his season numbers, where he’s hit same-handed pitching (.814 OPS) better than right-handers (.668).
Single-year platoon numbers can be pretty variable, though, and the Sox haven’t fully embraced the idea that Montgomery is wired differently.
“I wouldn’t say we look at him as a reverse-split guy, even though I know that’s what his splits are this year,” Venable said. “But definitely more neutral, where we’re not as concerned about matchups with Colson. It’s about other things for him.”
The bigger issue is that Montgomery entered Tuesday hitting .109/.255/.283 in September with a 43.6% strikeout rate, and is simply struggling in general.