DETROIT — What makes the White Sox’ playoff push unusual is that they’re doing it with players lacking major-league experience. And some of them aren’t just lacking that, they’re lacking it at the position they’re playing.
Case in point: Jacob Gonzalez.
The Sox called up Gonzalez with the intention of playing him at first base after Munetaka Murakami suffered a strained right hamstring May 29, even though Gonzalez, primarily a shortstop, had started only five games there in his college and minor-league careers. He forced his way onto the roster with 19 home runs in 52 games at Triple-A Charlotte this season.
‘‘He’s here to play first base for us,’’ manager Will Venable said days after Gonzalez’s call-up. ‘‘We’re going to support him.’’
That they are.
‘‘That’s where it gets lost with guys that play in the middle or even just on the left side of the infield,’’ Sox third-base and infield coach Justin Jirschele told the Sun-Times. ‘‘Go over to first base, and it’ll be easy. But it’s not. There’s a lot of nuance to it.’’
Though Gonzalez has had a couple of mental miscues, he’s handling the physical aspects of the position well. In fact, according to the website The Fielding Bible, Gonzalez has a defensive runs saved of plus-two, meaning he’s above average (average is zero).
‘‘The amount of runs he’s saved, the amount of double plays he’s started, the amount of picks he’s had in the dirt — overall, he’s been really, really good,’’ Jirschele said. ‘‘Especially for how new he is there.
‘‘He’s working on his backhand. And you have to remember he’s used to using a [smaller] glove, and now it’s damn near double. Yeah, it’s a bigger glove to catch throws, but fielding ground balls, it’s a much different feel.’’
His two blunders were costly. On June 2 against the Twins, he moved to field a ball bunted back to pitcher Davis Martin, putting him out of position to take Martin’s throw. On Tuesday against the Yankees, he thought a ball was headed to the outfield, so he moved toward the mound to be the cutoff man. When second baseman Chase Meidroth fielded it, he had no one to throw to.
Gonzalez’s lesson: Go to the base first.
‘‘The game’s always the best teacher for all of us,’’ Jirschele said. ‘‘We’re going to make mistakes; we learn from them. That’s exactly what I told him [Wednesday]: ‘I bet you that doesn’t happen again because you’re going to learn from that.’ ’’
Where Gonzalez’s experience as a shortstop comes in handy is when he’s manning the right side of the infield seemingly alone with a right-handed hitter at the plate.
‘‘If you watch where he’s playing and how aggressive he is on right-handed hitters, he’s almost halfway to second base,’’ Jirschele said. ‘‘But he’s comfortable enough to play there. It doesn’t happen a ton, but just optically, it takes away righties from feeling comfortable. It speaks volumes to how much he’s grown there in such a short period of time.’’
Though Gonzalez has started only once this week, it has nothing to do with his play at first and everything to do with matchups. The Sox have faced three lefties, putting the left-handed-hitting Gonzalez on the bench. He’ll be in the lineup Saturday, when the Tigers start right-hander Troy Melton. That’s another issue for Gonzalez, who’s hitless in his last seven games.
In the field, however, maybe we’ll see something else Gonzalez has learned. This much is certain: The Sox like what they’re seeing.
‘‘All in all, it’s just a new position that he’s extremely young in,’’ Jirschele said. ‘‘He’s young in general but extremely young at first base. We’re extremely happy with how he’s taken to it.’’