Let's hope that those in charge have the best ability to determine when Braden is ready for the promotion. That said, if he's ready, it's fun to think about the following potential line up, after the All Star break:

LF Antonacci

!B Murakami

3B Vargas

SS C. Montgomery

C Teel

RF B. Montgomery

2B Gonzales

DH Pereira / Benintendi

CF Peters

Edited Sunday at 03:49 PM1 day by Lillian

12 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Smart money is on July

I wonder if the Sox will deal Pereira before the deadline for more pitching if hes still playing relatively well when he comes back since Braden will be the starter in RF.

15 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Let's hope that those in charge have the best ability to determine when Braden is ready for the promotion. That said, if he's ready, it's fun to think about the following potential line up, after the All Star break:

LF Antonacci

!B Murakami

3B Vargas

SS C. Montgomery

C Teel

RF B. Montgomery

2B Gonzales

DH Pereira / Benintendi

CF Peters

Welcome back, Lillian!

I'm sure you must be excited at all the left handed savages in our lineup!

I dont think they will take Meidroth off of 2B (he's on pace for somewhere around a 2.5fWAR season). Gonzalez might get some time there maybe 1-2 times a week but IMO he prolly should be DH instead of Beni.

Edited Sunday at 04:06 PM1 day by SoCalChiSox

3 minutes ago, SoCalChiSox said:

Welcome back, Lillian!

I'm sure you must be excited at all the left handed savages in our lineup!

Yes, it's gratifying to see that the front office recognizes the importance of line up balance and the value of left handed hitters. It's not rocket science. Most hitters hit pitches from the opposite side better than from the same side. As we know, that's because the breaking balls are typically of the "back door" variety, when coming from the opposite side of the plate. That allows a hitter to keep his front shoulder closed, and avoid bailing on breaking balls. Combined with the fact that there are far more RH pitchers, than southpaws, it's obvious why left handed hitters are so coveted. This current Sox roster has a nice mix of both right handed and left handed hitters.

Braden will further enhance that balance, if he can be effective when batting right handed. So far, his splits don't suggest that to be the case. That might be the most important reason to keep him in AAA.

5 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Yes, it's gratifying to see that the front office recognizes the importance of line up balance and the value of left handed hitters. It's not rocket science. Most hitters hit pitches from the opposite side better than from the same side. As we know, that's because the breaking balls are typically of the "back door" variety, when coming from the opposite side of the plate. That allows a hitter to keep his front shoulder closed, and avoid bailing on breaking balls. Combined with the fact that there are far more RH pitchers, than southpaws, it's obvious why left handed hitters are so coveted. This current Sox roster has a nice mix of both right handed and left handed hitters.

Braden will further enhance that balance, if he can be effective when batting right handed. So far, his splits don't suggest that to be the case. That might be the most important reason to keep him in AAA.

I think last year he was significantly better vs LHP than RHP and this year it is the exact opposite.

I agree with you he will be a real weapon if he can get to a point where he is consistently good against both. With his power, I would expect him to be probably batting 5th long term right behind Colson.

During his draft year, Braden was so much better from the left side that some people thought he should give up switch hitting. Last year he was very good as a righty. Sample size is so small from that side in AAA that it’s hard to really pass judgment yet, I think.

On 6/5/2026 at 4:41 AM, Chicago White Sox said:

No, he’s going to need a lengthy minor league rehab assignment unfortunately. Hopefully that starts as soon as next week and he can be back before the end of the month.

What would you call lengthy ? I'm thinking once he starts playing ( he hit an oppo HR yesterday) it could be a week before he's back . The biggest hurdle was him not being ready to start the rehab assignment but that 's been cleared. Maybe he'll be ready for the road trip starting the 16th but I wouldn't rule out sometime during the upcoming home stand.

Him and Hays both seem to get injured a lot and Pereira is out of options. The only reason to play Hays is to trade him if he can establish any ability to stay healthy and produce simultaneously. Might not be room for either of them with Grichuk and the switch hitting ability of Montgomery. The Sox could want to check out Hays and Pereira before they fully commit to Braden for the rest of the season.

Lamonte Wade, Jr. who was hitting pretty well at AAA but was either released or had a June 1 option to chose Free Agency. He's with the Astro's now and had a pretty good game with a double and HR.

AN All-Rookie OF of Antonacci, Peters and Braden Montgomery would be wild and fans would love it even if it's not as powerful as we'd like.

On 6/5/2026 at 4:37 AM, Chicago White Sox said:

The latter is very true. A 59% groundball rate is a problem that needs to be addressed before he gets the call IMO. We don’t need to call up a rookie who has to make adjustments to get the ball into the air more all while adapting to major league pitching. Don’t see how that’s going to help us anytime soon.

Yeah I think it was Law that recently said that if Braden can just learn to elevate the ball more he should be like a 25 to 30 HR guy or something to that effect (paraphrasing)

18 minutes ago, SoCalChiSox said:

Yeah I think it was Law that recently said that if Braden can just learn to elevate the ball more he should be like a 25 to 30 HR guy or something to that effect (paraphrasing)

Definitely seems to be a fair assessment. His Max EV is in the 97th percentile for AAA. Just got to stop pounding the ball into the ground.

Will Venable be willing to use Gonzalez in the outfield? If so, if Gonzalez continues his success, that’s gonna be tough to find enough ABs for he and BM both to justify the roster spot for one of them.

6 hours ago, Lillian said:

Let's hope that those in charge have the best ability to determine when Braden is ready for the promotion. That said, if he's ready, it's fun to think about the following potential line up, after the All Star break:

LF Antonacci

!B Murakami

3B Vargas

SS C. Montgomery

C Teel

RF B. Montgomery

2B Gonzales

DH Pereira / Benintendi

CF Peters

And it’s hopefully reinforced with some additions via trade to the starting staff and bullpen with arms that have control beyond this year.

Though, potential lockout next year is one of my primary worries when we are looking at potential deadline deals

6 hours ago, Lillian said:

Yes, it's gratifying to see that the front office recognizes the importance of line up balance and the value of left handed hitters. It's not rocket science. Most hitters hit pitches from the opposite side better than from the same side. As we know, that's because the breaking balls are typically of the "back door" variety, when coming from the opposite side of the plate. That allows a hitter to keep his front shoulder closed, and avoid bailing on breaking balls. Combined with the fact that there are far more RH pitchers, than southpaws, it's obvious why left handed hitters are so coveted. This current Sox roster has a nice mix of both right handed and left handed hitters.

Braden will further enhance that balance, if he can be effective when batting right handed. So far, his splits don't suggest that to be the case. That might be the most important reason to keep him in AAA.

Lillian rocks and we’ve missed you.

24 minutes ago, hi8is said:

Lillian rocks and we’ve missed you.

How nice of you guys, who have welcomed me back to the forum. I do appreciate it. I've been reading posts, the whole time, but just haven't participated in the discussions. Thanks

I didn't realize it but Jacob is a pretty large player compared to our other second basemen. He's built like a 1B/DH. When Gonzalez was promoted to fill in for Mune, Venable stated that he was not going to alter the infield configuration beyond what was required. I think he made a good decision. Gonzalez has done a great job defensively and has shown some discipline at the plate and of course that HR power. I still miss Mune though..

How close are the Sox to taking the training wheels off Hagen Smith and bringing him up?

19 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

How close are the Sox to taking the training wheels off Hagen Smith and bringing him up?

Not very…think they would rather trade for a veteran back of the rotation piece like Civale Flexen Martin Perez Fedde this year than have Hagen get torched because of walks, erratic command and pitch counts/short outings just like Sandlin’s last two or Painter against the Sox.

Delmers would be fine, but other teams have the ability to easily outbid the Sox with higher quality redundant milb depth.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by caulfield12

42 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Delmers would be fine, but other teams have the ability to easily outbid the Sox with higher quality redundant milb depth.

They do?

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Not very…think they would rather trade for a veteran back of the rotation piece like Civale Flexen Martin Perez Fedde this year than have Hagen get torched because of walks, erratic command and pitch counts/short outings just like Sandlin’s last two or Painter against the Sox.

Delmers would be fine, but other teams have the ability to easily outbid the Sox with higher quality redundant milb depth.

Are we talking another Carson Fulmer disaster? I thought Smith was a top prospect.

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Not very…think they would rather trade for a veteran back of the rotation piece like Civale Flexen Martin Perez Fedde this year than have Hagen get torched because of walks, erratic command and pitch counts/short outings just like Sandlin’s last two or Painter against the Sox.

Delmers would be fine, but other teams have the ability to easily outbid the Sox with higher quality redundant milb depth.

Cauli:

I watched Sandelin's stuff and his fast ball seemed pretty good (up to 98mph) but his off-speed pitches, particularly his curve ball seemed to lack a little of the bite that it had in his debut. Perhaps the humidity had something to do with that, I don't know..Do you think that his pitch selection could also have been an issue? I thought that when he got torched on a high outside fastball that Marchon seemed too ready for. Maybe Teel will have a better feel for calling a game than Romo or Edgar.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by tray

1 hour ago, tray said:

Cauli:

I watched Sandelin's stuff and his fast ball seemed pretty good (up to 98mph) but his off-speed pitches, particularly his curve ball seemed to lack a little of the bite that it had in his debut. Perhaps the humidity had something to do with that, I don't know..Do you think that his pitch selection could also have been an issue? I thought that when he got torched on a high outside fastball that Marchon seemed too ready for. Maybe Teel will have a better feel for calling a game than Romo or Edgar.

https://prospectsavant.com/player/689818

3 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

https://prospectsavant.com/player/689818

ps score of 98 seems elite, but he hasn't looked elite in any start to this point, he had some babip luck in that first start

trade............trade what?

Every MLB team needs pitching except a few.

What an organization is willing to give up is another story.

We see this as a small window of opportunity for a postseason due to a really bad AL.

I think this month is a reality check facing teams that are more often in the post season.

They are not there yet.

4 hours ago, Falstaff said:

How close are the Sox to taking the training wheels off Hagen Smith and bringing him up?

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-prospect-hagen-smith-reaches-career-high-pitch-count?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

29 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-prospect-hagen-smith-reaches-career-high-pitch-count?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

That little roundhouse kick at the end of every pitch -- never saw that before

34 minutes ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

That little roundhouse kick at the end of every pitch -- never saw that before

All swinging K's