Healthy infield creates late-season lineup puzzle for White Sox

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You didn’t need the blazing Kansas City sun to shine a light on the glaring holes on the 2024 White Sox’ roster as the team played out the string on the worst season in modern baseball history.

General manager Chris Getz has given first-year manager Will Venable some more to work with in another rebuilding season, but now the Sox have some juggling to do.

Infielder Chase Meidroth’s return this weekend against the Royals after two weeks on the shelf with a hand injury has made it a full house around the diamond and at designated hitter as the Sox mull which prospect cards will give them the best long-term hand.

Meidroth is a lock for Getz’s vision at second base alongside shortstop Colson Montgomery, although they’ve alternated at short and Montgomery has played a dozen games at third.

Miguel Vargas, who returned last week from an oblique injury, can be written in ink, too, perhaps as the everyday first baseman. He often has played there since the departure of Andrew Vaughn and the rookie struggles of Tim Elko.

But then there’s Curtis Mead, a recent acquisition from the Rays who has scooped up time at first and third as he tries to realize his former top-prospect potential, plus Lenyn Sosa, a holdover from the edge of the Sox’ last contending window who has slugged his way into long-term consideration.

Getting them all consistent at-bats will be challenging as the Sox try to keep rookie catchers Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel in the lineup together, with Venable becoming more comfortable using one or the other at DH.

And don’t forget utility player Brooks Baldwin, who has been getting more work in the outfield. The Sox are set for the near term with veterans in the outfield, but they don’t have many prospects waiting in the wings.

‘‘It’s been collaborative,’’ Venable said. ‘‘We’re still trying to figure out where this group needs to be.’’

More Savannah Sox

Sox greats Paul Konerko and Ozzie Guillen joined the list of 2005 World Series champions who got in on the ‘‘Banana Ball’’ craze during the weekend at Rate Field.

A day after Mark Buehrle and A.J. Pierzynski donned the garish yellow for their first pitches together in 14 years, a dancing Guillen served as the Savannah Bananas’ first-base coach and Konerko dug into the batter’s box on the South Side for the first time since 2014.

Konerko, a longtime first baseman and famously slow baserunner, stoked nostalgia with an easy groundout, and Guillen shimmied along with his Harlem Globetrotters-style squad.

‘‘Next time I have to play an inning at shortstop,’’ Guillen said on social media.

Braden bashing

Highly touted outfield prospect Braden Montgomery has been making the Sox look smart since being elevated last month to Double-A Birmingham.

Another prize of the Garrett Crochet trade last winter, along with Meidroth, Teel and pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez, Montgomery was hitting .308/.392/.477 with eight doubles, a home run and six RBI in his first 17 games after the promotion.

The Red Sox drafted Montgomery with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 draft, and he has ascended three levels of the minors with the White Sox. MLB Pipeline rates him as their top prospect and No. 33 in baseball.

‘‘I’m kind of just taking it as a crash course, seeing how many different ways I can fail before I find the formula I want, the process I want, to get that consistent look that I eventually want to have,’’ Montgomery said last month.