White Sox catcher Grandal to join Class AA Birmingham on rehab assignment Wednesday
There hasn't been much news on injured White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal the past few weeks, but that changed on Tuesday.
Grandal has been out since June 12 with back and leg issues, but he's feeling better and is heading to Class AA Birmingham Wednesday to begin a rehab assignment.
"I'll be going out to Birmingham just to DH through the weekend and then head out to (Class AAA) Charlotte probably for the second part and then start catching there," Grandal said. "That will put me all the way through the (all-star) break. I was hoping it would be sooner than that but, given the circumstances, we didn't have enough time to be able to head out a little sooner than I wanted."
In 50 games with the White Sox this season, the 33-year-old Grandal is hitting a disappointing .185/.294/.237 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI.
A knee injury limited him to 93 games last year. This time around, back spasms took a toll on Grandal's leg.
"My left leg actually pretty much turned off." he said. "Whatever was happening with my back hit a nerve and it like just completely shut the leg off. That was the biggest thing because if I wouldn't have gotten the strength back in that left side, we would have had to go in and gotten surgery.
"That was pretty much what concerned me. Thank God that wasn't the case and we've been working back slowly."
If all goes well, Grandal will be back with the Sox on July 22 when the second half of the season starts with a home game against Cleveland.
Baserunning blame:
After Monday night's loss to the Twins, manager Tony La Russa said he watched video of the Sox running into a triple play "probably 10 times."
Adam Engel took the blame after running from second base to third on a deep flyball caught by Minnesota center fielder Byron Buxton, but Yoan Moncada was also tagged out after taking off from first base.
"I saw the ball for a little bit and then I put my focus on the lead runner, because that's what we do," Moncada said through a translator. "As soon as I saw (Engel) taking off, I just went after him. I didn't see when the center fielder caught the ball. The only thing I can say is we need to keep our focus on the game and do our best. It's not worth it to point fingers and who's to blame."
La Russa shifted the blame to himself.
"I'm not saying this insincerely, I'm saying it because it's the way I was taught and I think it's helped keep me around, responsibility starts with the manager," La Russa said.
Poor baserunning has hurt the White Sox all season, but La Russa said there's still time to improve.
"We have not been perfect on the bases," he said. "If this was September and we had five months of mistakes like this, I'd be hanging myself. But we'll correct them."