Carlos Rodon remains a focal point of White Sox rebuild during rehab

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The White Sox are generally discussed as a team looking toward the future, the relative far future of 2019 and 2020 and 2021.

But there’s a more imminent future that should be of interest to those playing the waiting game, and that involves pitcher Carlos Rodon.

It’s easy sometimes to forget about the injured Rodon while penciling out rotations of the future that feature highly touted prospects like Michael Kopech, Alec Hansen and Dylan Cease and current big leaguers like Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. But the guy the White Sox selected with the third pick in the 2014 draft is still just 25 years old, meaning he’d fit nicely into the team’s planned window of contention — if he can stay on the field.

After suffering two significant arm injuries a season ago, the mission for Rodon now is to get back in action. He’s rehabbing from shoulder surgery, and while the White Sox never laid out a specific timetable for his return — though the vague notion of “June” seems to be on everyone’s mind — he’s reportedly making his way back in promising fashion.

“He’s progressing very nicely,” general manager Rick Hahn said of Rodon on Opening Day. “We have a schedule mapped out that we started on the first day of spring training. He’s hit every milestone on that schedule. In fact, I think he actually moved it up a few days based on how he was feeling, so, so far, so good.

“There’s this moment you see with guys who are coming off of injury where it’s almost like a weight is lifted off of them, where they have convinced themselves that they’re no longer hurt, they’re over the issue and they’re just building up back to baseball. … You see it with Carlos now, not only in the way he’s throwing the ball free and easy but in talking to him, there’s a different demeanor to him.

“He’s on target building himself back and, knock on wood, will continue to progress nicely.”

What Rodon is able to do once he finally does return to a big league mound will be of great interest to the rebuild-lovers on the South Side. Though he didn’t make his first 2017 appearance until June 28, he showed some real flashes of brilliance when he did pitch, including a pair of double-digit strikeout performances against the Cubs and Oakland Athletics in July. During a small but impressive five-start stretch in July and August, he allowed just nine runs in 36 innings for a 2.25 ERA.

The talent that made him the No. 3 pick in the draft is obviously still there. But Rodon now has plenty of competition for the status of the White Sox ace of the future, making his health a more pressing issue. He’ll have to prove not only that he can still pitch well enough to be one of the future five but also that he can stay healthy while doing it.

It all starts with returning this season. Hahn said that the next steps for Rodon include throwing batting practice, pitching in extended spring training games and then rehabbing in the minor leagues. Can that process move along quicker than expected? Maybe quick enough to get him back before June arrives?

“Not out of the question, but let’s wait until he’s on a rehab assignment before we really start to zero in on timing,” Hahn said. “As we said at the start of spring, I suspect it will be closer to the eight-month mark, which would be June 1, then obviously the six-month mark, which would be today.

“He’s progressing nicely, and once he’s on a rehab assignment, we’ll have a better sense of the exact return.”

Right now, “when” is the most important question surrounding Rodon, as in when he’ll be back with the big league club. But soon that question will become “if,” as in if he’s able to prove what he needs to prove to stay at the forefront of this ongoing discussion about the team’s bright future.

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