White Sox coach Cooper back after missing 11 games
After missing 11 games with vertigo, White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper was thrilled to be back on the job Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
"I'm feeling better than I did, that's for sure," Cooper said. "I'm not right but I feel up to being here. I never had this before, vertigo, it's no fun. Given the choice, I think I might go for the diverticulitis over the vertigo, especially with the first three days of the symptoms. You feel seasick, carsick, and you are not moving anywhere. I'm just sitting."
Cooper missed 13 total games last season while dealing with two bouts of diverticulitis.
When he was first hit with vertigo, Cooper didn't know what was going on.
"All I knew is I felt horrible," he said. "I felt sick, throwing up violently and spinning for three days. What I thought then was, 'Man, I would rather have diverticulitis than this.' "
Medication seems to have taken care of the vertigo.
"It's not life-threatening," Cooper said. "It's something you've got to deal with. Right now, I'm dealing with what I've got. I'm dealing with the best I've got right now and hopefully that's going to head to better and better."
Garcia, Lindstrom rehabs:
Out since April 10 with an injured left shoulder that required surgery, White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia played his first rehab game with Class AAA Charlotte on Friday night.
Batting third and serving as the Knights' designated hitter, Garcia singled after striking out his first two times up.
"He's going to be DHing there for probably the first four or five days before going to the outfield," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "This is essentially restarting spring training for him, so it's going to take a fair amount of at-bats."
Injured relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom (ankle) also started a rehab assignment with Charlotte and pitched 1 inning, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 1 walk.
Rodon watch:
First-round draft pick (No. 3 overall) Carlos Rodon pitched 1 inning and allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks in his first appearance since being promoted to Class A Winston-Salem earlier this week, but stats are not the most important thing at the moment.
"Great kid, extremely hard worker," GM Rick Hahn said. "The changeup was probably something he didn't need to use in college because he could get college hitters out with his fastball and slider. But the changeup has been a pretty impressive pitch fairly quickly here.
"Certainly part of developing him into a well-rounded starter is having that third pitch be dependable and he's frankly a little ahead of where we thought that pitch would be."