One of the biggest shocks when the White Sox set their Opening Day roster, was Yoán Moncada’s addition to the 10-Day IL. Moncada missed the Sox’ final Spring Training game with a tweaked oblique. At the time the injury was expected to affect his availability for Opening Day, with the team holding him out for precautionary reasons. Now, the White Sox say the injury is much worse than they thought.
“We expect him back, let’s say, approximately three weeks, but could be quicker,” Rick Hahn said. “Certainly the kind of thing that you do not want to mess around with.
“Yoán was actually disappointed. He wanted to try to fight through it, but that’s simply not a risk we’re going to take with the long and hopefully successful season ahead of us.”
“It happens,” said Tony La Russa. “The one good thing is we really hadn’t pushed him, otherwise I would’ve felt guilty. It’s just one of those things, you make this move, it’s一 but the worst part about it is, he’ll walk around and he looks fine, except when he sneezes he’ll go to his knees. It’s one of those things.”
The White Sox were hoping to have a healthier season this year, after many injuries derailed their 2021 campaign. That included making moves like promoting a new strength and conditioning coach. But the injury bug has bitten the South Siders again, with Lance Lynn, Ryan Burr, Garrett Crochet and now Moncada already going down before the start of the season.
Jake Burger was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on Thursday, and will start at third base in Moncada’s place to start the season.
