Hendriks 'close' to rejoining White Sox's bullpen
Before Friday night's game against the Royals, Liam Hendriks is either going to pitch live batting practice or throw a bullpen.
After that, will the all-star closer be back on the White Sox's roster?
"Not sure yet," manager Pedro Grifol said.
Hendriks has been on a rehab assignment with Class AAA Charlotte after being declared cancer free in his battle with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The Sox and Hendriks should know much more about the future after the throwing session at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"We'll wait and see the outcome, how he feels, what the numbers were," Grifol said. "Evaluate it really well. He's close, so now we've got to really do a good job of just evaluating him, how close he really is to being Liam Hendriks, not how close he is just to pitch here in the big leagues."
During his stay with Charlotte, Hendriks appeared in 5 games and allowed 5 runs over 4 innings.
The numbers say he needs more work, but Grifol doesn't see it that way.
"There's nothing about it, so many rehabs go south," Grifol said. "Sometimes it's hard to pitch in the minor leagues. These guys in the minor leagues are swinging the bat and sometimes they're recklessly swinging the bat. You're trying to set them up and they're actually not giving you a chance to set them up.
"I've seen that happen a ton, where you're going down there and you're trying to pitch and they're not even giving you a chance to pitch because they're just swinging."
Montgomery update:
Shortstop Colson Montgomery, the White Sox's No. 1 prospect, is still sidelined with a back injury and has yet to play a game this season.
"Colson has been dealing with a mid-back strain," said Chris Getz, the Sox's assistant general manager/director of player development. "He's continuing to go through the rehab process and it has improved a good amount here in the last week or two. And we are increasing his activities and look forward to getting him back on the baseball field."
Montgomery, the White Sox's first-round draft pick in 2021, hit a combined .274/.381/.429 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI in 96 games with low Class A Kannapolis, high A Winston-Salem and AA Birmingham last year.
"He would have liked to be with an affiliate out of the gate, but this mid-back strain seems to be kind of in the rear view mirror and we hope to get a good chunk of the season this year," Getz said.
Schultz update:
Noah Schultz, the Sox's first-round draft pick last year out of Oswego East High School, is also trying to get his first professional season started.
The 6-foot-9 lefty pitcher is coming back from a forearm strain and is ticketed for low Class A Kannapolis when he's cleared to compete.
"Noah has a live batting practice scheduled for (Friday)," Chris Getz said. "It will be his second one for two innings. Next week, we'll build on that and continue to stretch him out. He's been mid-90s with a slider we are accustomed to. He's attacking the zone throwing strikes, so things are trending in the right direction."