White Sox's injury list continues to expand
It was quite a news dump Friday before the Chicago White Sox played the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Crack open the nearest medical journal and try to follow along:
• After leaving Tuesday night's game at Boston with a right-ankle injury, Tim Anderson was placed on the 10-day injured list. The Sox's shortstop is going to be out much longer than that.
"The prognosis is it remains a high ankle sprain," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "I would compare it to Eloy (Jimenez's) injury in that generally they take 4-6 weeks, but sometimes they progress on a better timeline than that. We'll stick with it over the coming weeks, but obviously he's going to be down for a little bit."
Anderson was the American League player of the month for April, and he is batting .317/342/.491 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI. He also leads all major-league shortstops with 16 errors.
"It's unfortunate for him because certainly, in my biased opinion, he belongs in Cleveland in a few weeks as a member of the American League all-star team," Hahn said. "He obviously won't have that opportunity now."
• Earlier this week, Sox relief pitcher Ryan Burr and minor-league starting pitcher Jimmy Lambert had Tommy John surgery in Los Angeles. Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed both surgeries, and Burr and Lambert are out for the season.
Burr was 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in 16 appearances for the White Sox. Lambert was 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts with Class AA Birmingham.
"We're still obviously very bullish on his future and where things are headed with Jimmy, but his development is going to be set back here for a little while," Hahn said.
Carlos Rodon, the Sox's opening-day starter, had Tommy John surgery in May and top pitching prospect Dane Dunning had the reconstructive elbow procedure in March.
Rising star Michael Kopech had Tommy John surgery last September and is out until spring training 2020.
"I think it's a trend in the game," Hahn said of the White Sox's string of serious elbow injuries. "I actually saw something about a week ago about another club (Rangers) that did a test program on like 10 of their guys to try to protect them from the likelihood of Tommy John surgery and they wound up with six of them winding up with Tommy John surgery.
"I don't have a great answer for what is the root cause of this, whether it's the added velocity or youth programs or any of the things fans have heard as possible causes of this.
"I do know, on the one hand, there's a great deal of confidence in our individual Chicago White Sox training programs and methods and usage patterns, as well as our track record of performance in this area. At the same time, none of us are stubborn enough to just rest on those laurels. We're going to continue to look at ways to try to get better in those training methods to hopefully stem the tide that we've been going through here for the last few months."
• Minor-league reliever Zack Burdi is back on the shelf with a knee injury.
The Downers Grove South High School product and No. 26 overall pick in the 2016 draft was back at full strength this year after having Tommy John surgery in July 2017.
"While doing a pregame drill in Birmingham a few weeks ago, actually within the last 10 days, he felt kind of a change in his knee," Hahn said. "After an examination it was disclosed that he has a torn ligament in his (right) patella, which needs to be repaired. That will be sometime in early July, and Zack will be out for the remainder of the season.
Best known for throwing 100 mph as a collegiate closer at Louisville, Burdi was a combined 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in 20 games with Class AA Birmingham and high A Winston-Salem this year.
• Ian Hamilton's nightmarish season has come to an end.
The relief pitcher was involved in a car accident during spring training, and he was hit in the face by a line drive sitting in Triple-A Charlotte's dugout earlier this month.
"Unfortunately for all of us, especially for Ian, he suffered multiple facial fractures, lost a few teeth and will need multiple surgeries to reconstruct elements of his jaw and obviously replace the teeth," Hahn said. "Ian is going to be down for the year as well."
• Jake Burger, the White Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 11 overall) in 2017, is still trying to get back on the field after rupturing his left Achilles tendon twice last year.
"He's progressing, albeit slowly, from his bruised left heel, the same leg that had the Achilles issue," Hahn said. "He is doing water agility drills right now but has yet to resume baseball activity on the field. Don't have a timeline on Jake's return to action but hopefully he's able to join the Arizona club before that season ends and if not we'll see Jake hopefully fully healthy in (September) instructionals."