Pitching, catching dictate White Sox’s roster decisions for wild-card series
HOUSTON — The White Sox announced their roster for the American League wild-card series against the Houston Astros ahead of Game 1 at Daikin Park.
The Sox will have 12 pitchers, two catchers, five infielders and seven outfielders available.
“On the pitching side, it was a really hard decision because we value all these guys and they have all had an incredible impact on our journey here,” manager Will Venable said Tuesday.
Venable mentioned right-handers Tyler Davis and Trevor Richards as two pitchers who were caught in the numbers game.
“Ultimately it comes down to, in the case of Davis and Richards, the way in which we were going to use them,” Venable said. “As you line up the right-handed guys versus, let’s say, an Anthony Kay — who just pitched (Sunday) but has a role here maybe in a shorter stint, particularly against that lefty pocket — we thought that was to our benefit more than holding on to a Richards or Davis, who are further down in their types of role we’ve been using them and might not exist here in this short series.”
Venable said the Sox had decided earlier to include catcher Jake Rogers, who was on the paternity list for the last two regular-season games, on the roster ahead of Drew Romo.
“(That) was a decision that we felt like we wanted to keep in line, and that was the right thing to do,” Venable said. “So Romo comes off, Rogers is on.”
Game 1 of the best-of-three series begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Here’s the full roster breakdown:
Pitchers (12): right-handers Huáscar Brazobán, Sean Burke, Erick Fedde, Jordan Hicks, Davis Martin, David Sandlin and Grant Taylor and left-handers Bryan Hudson, Anthony Kay, Sean Newcomb, Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.
Catchers (2): Kyle Teel and Jake Rogers.
Infielders (5): Luisangel Acuña, Chase Meidroth, Colson Montgomery, Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas.
Outfielders (7): Sam Antonacci, Andrew Benintendi, Brenton Doyle, Randal Grichuk, Braden Montgomery, Tristan Peters and Tommy Pham.