Chicago White Sox won't send Garcia down yet

Hitless (0-for-10) on the homestand, 3-for-27 over his last 8 games and slashing .146/.226/.292 through 14 games of the young season, Avisail Garcia was held out of the White Sox's starting lineup Friday night for the second time in three games.

Garcia has looked overmatched as a major-league hitter over the first three weeks of the season, so why not send him to Class AAA Charlotte to work on his swing against lesser pitching?

"I think we've already been doing that in spring training, to work on it and get through it," Sox manager Robin Ventura said after dismissing the idea. "We have to be patient with him."

That was pretty much the same thing the White Sox were saying about Garcia last season, when he batted .257 and produced only 32 extra-base hits in 553 at-bats.

Then again, if the Sox are already thinking about moving Garcia off the 25-man roster, Ventura isn't going to announce it.

Instead, the White Sox's manager continues throwing his support behind the 24-year-old designated hitter.

"This is not picking on him because we have plenty to go around," Ventura said with a nod to the Sox's slow offensive start. "But we expect him to do better and get off the slump he's on right now. He has the potential to do it and we believe he's going to do that."

Jerry Sands took over for Garcia again at DH.

More slow starters:

Entering Friday, neither of the White Sox's new catchers were hitting very well.

Dioner Navarro was off to a 2-for-25 start and Alex Avila was 5-for-27. That's a combined batting average of .135.

"Again, we're going through the whole lineup and you can say the same thing throughout," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's not pinpointing the catchers, they need to do this or putting it on them. "It's all the way through. We understand that and we feel like it's going to get better."

The Sox's pitching staff had the American League's best ERA (2.49) through Thursday's play, and Navarro and Avila combined to throw out 2 of 6 attempted basestealers.

"We didn't bring them in here to be guys that are going to hit you 30 homers or steal 30 bases," Ventura said. " Their No. 1 priority is taking care of the pitchers and being able to call the game, throw guys out. That stuff is the important part.

"They will be part of the offense, they will. But right now, their No. 1 priority is taking care of those pitchers, making sure they can get through a game and they have that trust."