CLEVELAND — Will Venable said Monday that he would “be shocked” if Tommy Pham returned from his calf strain to play in this week’s series in Cleveland. As recently as postgame Tuesday, the 38-year-old veteran still needed to run the bases in front of training staff in order to get medical clearance to return for this weekend’s series hosting the Detroit Tigers.
Then Pham ran into White Sox general manager Chris Getz in the elevator.
“I went right to the source,” Pham said. “I felt like I could help the team win today.”
Pham did indeed run the bases under the watch of training staff, but did so on Wednesday morning. A little over an hour later, he was activated off the injured list and slotted to bat cleanup against Guardians ace left-hander Parker Messick in an afternoon rubber match, the winner of which will end the day leading the American League Central. Terming his calf as “good enough to play,” rather than fully healed, Pham will be the designated hitter.
“You appreciate the edge and the passion that Tommy has,” said manager Will Venable. “To work himself back in here really means a lot. To have him on the field in the lineup means a lot.”
A matchup against a tough left-handed starter is essentially why Pham was signed. Edgar Quero was optioned once more to make room, and had only sporadically been filling the role as a bench bat against left-handed pitching in Pham’s absence. Quero said earlier this week that he intends to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic this offseason, after seeing his playing time evaporate with the White Sox this year.
In manner akin to former Sox pitcher John Danks, Messick possesses a great changeup that has driven better results against right-handers (.568 OPS) than left-handers (.712), but the Sox have lined up a lot of right-handed bats–Pham, Randal Grichuk, Brenton Doyle, Luisangel Acuña–against him.
“It’s more about balancing our lineup,” Venable. “We have Messick in there for the first half of the game. We have the second half of the game to worry about too.”
Mune out
Technically, what Venable contended postgame Tuesday after Murakami went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, is that changing his place in the batting order wouldn’t “magically fix his swing.”
So instead, Murakami–5-for-51 with 31 strikeouts in September–is just out of the lineup entirely.
“Just truthfully give him a blow,” Venable said. “As we did similarly with Colson [Montgomery on Tuesday] where these guys who are in spots where they’re continuing to work really hard and it’s just not coming out on the field. I know there’s a little bit of frustration there.”
Thorpe out too
Having exhausted the timeline for his rehab assignment for Tommy John surgery recovery, the White Sox optioned right-hander Drew Thorpe to Triple-A on Wednesday. Thorpe, who possesses a great changeup but a below-average fastball, has made six rehab starts with the Charlotte Knights (2.79 ERA in 29 innings).
With 10 games left after Wednesday and options requiring a 15-day stay in the minors, the move takes Thorpe out of consideration for a major league call-up for the rest of the season.
“So proud of him for his journey and the way that he’s progressed,” said Venable of Thorpe, who has not pitched in the majors since 2024. “There’s just not an opportunity here right now for him.”