CLEVELAND — Geovany Soto is on the 10-day disabled list after he experienced abnormal pain while making a routine throw. The White Sox placed Soto on the disabled list on Thursday afternoon and purchased the contract of catcher Kevan Smith from Triple-A Charlotte.
Soto said an MRI determined everything in his elbow to be "fairly OK." The veteran said he's experiencing forearm tightness and is hopeful that 10 days of treatment will have him ready to return soon.
"We all play with aches and pains," Soto said. "But it comes to a time where it's kind of weird, it's not the same and I have to listen to my body at some point.
"It showed no tear.
"This kind of came out of the blue. Went to throw a ball and something felt a little weird, you know, a little more than what you're used to normal soreness. It kind of spooked me a little bit. It was a little different from your normal wear and tear. I had an MRI, everything was fairly OK. Had a couple floaters in there. Hopefully with medication and some treatment we can pass this."
Smith appeared in seven games for the White Sox in 2016 and finished with two hits in 16 at-bats. While he hoped he'd make the team out of camp, Smith said he got over his disappointment after a few days. Smith got off to an outstanding start with the bat at Charlotte hitting .438/.500/.563 with nine RBIs in 20 plate appearances.
"Obviously it's a tough pill to swallow to go back down there, but after I had a few days to digest it, I kind of understood what my role was," Smith said. "I really locked in on what they wanted me to do and took it to heart. I was working with those guys every day down there and talking about small things like reading hitters or pitch selection or just even the flow of the game.
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"Unfortunately, Soto's elbow is bothering him a little bit. It's going to give me an opportunity. That's basically all I asked for. That's what I asked for this spring. It's just, you work so hard your whole life and basically for these small windows of opportunities. This is one of them and I'm going to do everything in my power to take advantage of it and go with it."
Soto had been off to a strong start for the White Sox. He homered three times in his first five games.