Bryan Ramos is the new thing on the White Sox, a breath of fresh air for a struggling team and suffering fan base looking for reasons to tune into games.
Called up from Double-A Birmingham last weekend, Ramos, 22, is getting the opportunity to play every day, to show what he can do, to provide a glimpse of how close to being ready he is for the major leagues.
He is handling his chances at third base and was 7-for-18 (.389) after collecting a double near the wall and single in his first two at-bats in the Sox’ 3-2 win against the Guardians Thursday.
Hitting to the right side to move a runner to third and getting an RBI single out of it and lining a double off the left field wall in the same victory at the Rays Wednesday showed something else.
“When a young player doesn’t get fazed by a major-league atmosphere, there’s something there,” manager Pedro Grifol said Thursday. “But you’ve still got to go out there and prove it. He’s played a handful of games. He’s played extremely well, carrying himself extremely well. He’s confident.
“This is a tough game up here. There’s a lot of learning to be done here. And there’s going to be some mistakes, going to be adjustments.”
Scouting reports haven’t been finalized yet, so when that happens, Ramos will have to adjust to pitchers adjusting to him.
“All this stuff is coming our way,” Grifol said. “But right now, he’s having a lot of fun. He’s not fazed by the big leagues.”
The expectation when Danny Mendick went on the injured list last weekend was that Ramos would return to the minors. But if he keeps performing well, the Sox might give him an extended look. They are 4-2 since Ramos’ call-up.
“We’ll see,” Grifol said.
Six scoreless innings for Fedde
Erick Fedde (3.00 ERA) strung six scoreless innings of three-hit ball with no walks, then loaded the bases in the seventh, putting the tying runs on base with no outs. But Jordan Leasure, in relief, pitched out of it by striking out Bo Naylor and Tyler Freeman and getting Kyle Manzardo on a groundout to protect a 3-0 lead.
“It’s probably one of the biggest moments you can have, to come out of that with no damage,” Leasure said.
“I feel comfortable and am able to do what I want to do with any pitch in any count.”
Robert Jr. at 70%
Grifol said Luis Robert Jr., who felt a “little grab” in his right hip flexor as he recovers a Grade 2 strain, is running at 70% intensity. Robert is perhaps five to seven days from being at 90% and taking the next step, which would be back-field games at the team’s complex in Arizona.
Pham first
Tommy Pham led off for the second straight game, doubled in the first inning and scored on Andrew Vaughn’s double off the right-center-field wall. Grifol likes a quality hitter getting as many at-bats as possible.
“When we hit around four times, and I look up right there, and he’s coming up again, I’m liking that,” Grifol said.
This and that
Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor gave the Guardians their first back-to-back homers, with two out in the eighth inning against John Brebbia. Michael Kopech took over, touched 100 mph, and picked up a four-out save, his fourth.
• Designated hitter Eloy Jimenez doubled and singled but was thrown out at third, trying to advance on Andrew Benintendi’s fly ball to left fielder David Fry in the third.
• Paul DeJong (RBI single) is batting .313 in his last nine games.
