David Robertson was named the White Sox nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.
Robertson is one of the 30 Club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.
The award pays tribute to Clemente’s achievements and character by recognizing current players who truly understand the value of helping others. Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 15-time All-Star and Hall of Famer, died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Robertson and his wife, Erin, co-founded High Socks for Hope in 2011 after his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was devastated by a tornado.
Rodon to pitch again Saturday
Carlos Rodon’s next start will be Saturday in Cleveland, giving the rookie left-hander a 10-day rest. It’s his fourth rest of eight days or more for Rodon, who has pitched 125 2/3 innings and probably has three starts left, which should bring him close to 150 innings for the season. He threw 10 innings at AAA Charlotte in April.
Chris Sale is lined up to pitch Friday in Cleveland, which would be on four days rest following a three-inning outing Sunday against the Twins.
Trainer’s room
Avisail Garcia (back) was back in the lineup, as the designated hitter, after missing Sunday’s game
Catcher Rob Brantly and designated hitter Adam LaRoche are both dealing with nagging but not serious knee issues. Neither was in the lineup Monday as the Sox opened a four-game series against the Oakland A’s at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Samardzija trade
As’ manager Bob Melvin on catcher Josh Phegley, one of four players traded by the Sox for Jeff Samardzija and prospect Michael Ynoa, last December:
“We were just looking for him against left-handed pitching and he’s proven to be more than that. This is another guy, if we don’t have a Stephen Vogt here, this is a guy who has a chance to be an everyday player, I believe.”
Phegley is batting .248 with nine homers and 33 RBI over 230 plate appearances.
The A’s also received Marcus Semien (.255, 11 homers, 37 RBI, 11 stolen bases), the A’s everyday shortstop who has committed a whopping 34 errors, right-hander Chris Bassitt (1-6, 2.82) and prospect Rangel Ravelo.
Bassitt hasn’t pitched this month because of shoulder soreness, but the A’s have liked what they’ve seen.
“The last one or two outings, he’s kept us in every game,” Melvin said. “We’ve given him barely any run support for the first few games, but you can see him getting more and more comfortable every time he goes out there starting. He’s got a tenacity to him. He wants to be out there, he wants to be out there when the game’s on the line and it’s been really nice to see. We really feel like we have a guy that’s going to be with us for awhile and has quite the upside.
“Marcus is our everyday shortstop, where Josh has the ability to [be a first-string catcher] and certainly Bassitt, we feel like, has the ability to be a rotation guy with us, whether it’s middle, back-end, depending on who we have here,” Melvin said. “It’s worked out well for us with all these guys.”
