After throwing batting practice, Hendriks, Sox to discuss next step on comeback trail
Ideally, Liam Hendriks would have been placed on the White Sox's active roster immediately after throwing batting practice Friday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Realistically, it did not happen.
After throwing 20 or so pitches, the next step for Hendriks was sitting down and talking about the next step in his return from Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"We'll get together as a group, including him, and we'll evaluate what he did out there and we'll make a decision about moving forward," manager Pedro Grifol said. "There's no timetable on it, there's no blueprint on it. We're going to evaluate it, evaluate the session out there, talk about it and we'll proceed from there."
Hendriks missed spring training while receiving chemotherapy treatments. Before returning to Chicago Thursday, he pithed in 6 rehab games for Class AAA Charlotte and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits (3 home runs) and a walk over 5 innings.
Given the serious medical issue and long layoff, it appears Hendriks needs more rehab time before coming back.
It's a decision that should be made soon, but Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz was impressed by Hendriks' mound session Friday.
"It was good," Katz said. "Everything was a step in the right direction from the stuff that we had looked at and where he's going. It just takes time and we're just trying to make sure we're getting all the right information and being able to evaluate it properly.
"He's building up. It's kind of like his spring training. We're just kind of getting eyes on him and getting him ramped up and kind of seeing where everything goes."
Wounded knee:
Not only did Tim Anderson take a low (.264) batting average into Friday night's game against the Royals, he was still looking for his first home run of the season.
Anderson is gradually getting back to 100% after missing three weeks with a sprained left knee.
"His stride was somewhat hindered, just because of the knee injury," manager Pedro Grifol said. "He was wearing the brace for a little while. He's taken off the brace, he's feeling pretty good, he's starting to stride out with his mechanics and once he does that, he's going to do what Tim Anderson does."
Grandal out:
After coming out of a May 8 game at Kansas City with a strained hamstring, catcher Yasmani Grandal was able to stay in the lineup despite running in obvious discomfort.
Grandal was held out of the White Sox's starting lineup Friday night and he's likely to sit again Saturday.
"He's available to pinch-hit, he's available to catch if we need him in an emergency," manager Pedro Grifol said. "We certainly want to get him to a point where he's feeling healthy and can go back there (catch) on consecutive nights."