Surging Avisail Garcia making up for lost time

Avisail Garcia was supposed to be doing this last season.

The White Sox' right fielder was supposed to be flashing his five-tool skills and showing why he was the first young building block general manager Rick Hahn went outside the organization to acquire.

Instead, Garcia tore up his left shoulder diving for a ball early in the season and was limited to 46 games after returning from surgery.

Making up for lost time, Garcia has been brilliant this month. The 23-year-old outfielder was batting .387 with 3 home runs and 13 RBI in May heading into Monday night's game against Cleveland.

"You've got to be focused and play hard every day," Garcia said. "Stay healthy and do everything right on the field."

Garcia has been doing little wrong as of late, but Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson doesn't want the seemingly sudden success to create added pressure.

"He's got a high ceiling," Steverson said. "But you don't want to sit there and put that kind of pressure on him right now. Let him go play. With everybody, let them go play. He's a great part of our lineup right now and let him go play."

Playing winter ball in his native Venezuela helped Garcia make up missing more than four months of the 2014 season. Garcia played in 34 games for Aragua and batted .312 with 5 home runs and 22 RBI.

"It helped me a lot because I lost like three months last year and playing helped me because I saw more pitches," Garcia said. "They had really good pitchers over there, so I saw pitches, curveballs, sliders, and I made adjustments."

Second shift:

When the White Sox headed out to play at Milwaukee last week, Micah Johnson was their regular second baseman. Returning to U.S. Cellular Field on Monday night to play the Indians, Carlos Sanchez was starting at second from the Sox.

Sanchez was called up from Class AAA Charlotte to replace the demoted Johnson. He started all three games at Oakland over the weekend and was 2-for-12.

Sanchez opened the season on the White Sox' 25-man roster but was sent down to Charlotte on April 11. The 22-year-old switch hitter batted .344 in 29 games with the Knights.

"I felt bad, but I always play hard," Sanchez said. "Now that the opportunity's coming I have to keep on playing hard and show that I can play at this level."

Johnson likely has a higher offensive upside than Sanchez, but he doesn't have the defensive skills.

"He's a smart baseball player," manager Robin Ventura said of Sanchez. "He's a heady player, just aware of a lot of things. People might get caught up in the defense part of him, but he also gives you a good at-bat.

"He's been in our minor leagues and on our radar for a while, just being able to help you do a lot of different things."