Jacob Gonzalez raking, which may make for roster crunch for slugging White Sox

BALTIMORE — Rookie first baseman Jacob Gonzalez’s hot bat might leave the White Sox with a tough decision to make when slugging sensation Munetaka Murakami is ready to return from the injured list.

Gonzalez has hit .423/.483/.692 with a home run and 12 RBI — half of which came in the first two games of the Sox’ series in Baltimore — in the last week. He went 0-for-2 with a walk Wednesday.

‘‘This team’s been a lot of fun, and it’s a cool group of guys,’’ said Gonzalez, whom the Sox selected in the first round of the 2023 draft and who made hit major-league debut May 31. ‘‘It feels like half the team is rookies, which is pretty cool. And it’s just fun to win with these guys.’’

Murakami — who has been sidelined since late May with a hamstring injury that halted his 20-homer, .938-OPS introduction to the majors — is traveling and taking batting practice with the Sox, but his return date is unknown.

‘‘If it’s a week, two weeks, I have no idea,’’ said manager Will Venable, who declined to cross the roster bridge that awaits.

There’s plenty of time for an injury to pop up and potentially create a big-league opening for Gonzalez, who mostly played shortstop while obliterating Triple-A pitching (1.087 OPS in 52 games with Charlotte).

‘‘It’s so far away,’’ Venable said. ‘‘Who knows what’s going to happen, where we’re going to be at or what the move will be?’’

Bonemer headed to Futures Game

Top prospect Caleb Bonemer became the first member of the Sox’ organization to be officially headed to All-Star week in Philadelphia. The 20-year-old infielder will represent the team in the All-Star Futures Game on July 12.

Bonemer, a second-round draft pick in 2024 ranked as the No. 17 prospect in baseball by MLB.com, is hitting .267/.377/.378 with a homer, two doubles and eight RBI in 12 games since being promoted to Double-A Birmingham. He crushed 18 homers at High-A Winston-Salem before that, mostly playing third base and shortstop.

Saved by Schweitzer

To accommodate left-hander Noah Schultz’s return from the IL, the Sox sent rookie reliever Tyler Schweitzer back to Charlotte after his rare four-inning save Tuesday eased the load on a bullpen chugging through 19 games in 20 days in the middle of a withering heat wave.

‘‘We told him after the game it was one of the hardest send-downs we’ve had coming on the heels of that performance,’’ Venable said. ‘‘For him to be able to do that, it not only put us in position to win that game, it will give us a better chance to win some games here this week.’’

Schweitzer (4.50 ERA in five outings spanning eight innings) became the first Sox pitcher to notch a four-inning save since Matt Ginter in 2002 and their first rookie to do so since Keith Foulke in 1997.

Silver bullet

The addition of veteran outfielder/designated hitter Randal Grichuk, who had an RBI single in the Sox’ victory Monday, has added firepower to Venable’s arsenal off the bench.

‘‘We have the ‘Grich’ bullet to fire, which is a special bullet to fire,’’ Venable said of Grichuk, who has three pinch-hit homers since signing with the Sox in early May. ‘‘It’s a special thing to have on your bench, among the other guys we have on our bench.’’