Yoán Moncada expected to be in White Sox starting lineup on Opening Day

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Yoán Moncada is expected to be a part of the White Sox starting lineup when the team opens the regular season Friday.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria said Tuesday that he anticipates that Moncada will be ready to go for Opening Day after the South Side third baseman missed the first two weeks of "Summer Camp" after testing positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of the month.

"I would anticipate that he'll be there, obviously, unless there's some unforeseen situation that arises," Renteria said. "I think he's going to be good with us, starting."

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Moncada played in Monday night's exhibition game against the Cubs just four days after rejoining the team at Guaranteed Rate Field. He picked up an RBI base hit in the first of his three at-bats before lining out and striking out in the second and third. He looked good in the field, too, making four plays at third base, including one that involved a diving stop.

Renteria said Monday, though, that Tuesday morning might be the more informative day when it came to Moncada's readiness. Tuesday, Moncada worked out at third base and took an awful lot of live batting practice against a variety of White Sox pitchers, including Dylan Cease, who he hit a batting-practice home run off of.

Renteria liked what he saw, and Moncada should be starting at third base and batting second when the White Sox play their first regular-season game against the division-rival Minnesota Twins on Friday night on the South Side.

RELATED: From COVID-19 to Opening Day? Yoán Moncada emphatically shows he’s ready

The only remaining mystery, then, might be what Moncada's workload will be once the season begins. While he might be physically ready to play, he might not be physically ready to play every day during the 60-game sprint to the postseason, at least out of the gate. The White Sox open the season with games in six straight days and 20 games in 21 days.

Renteria said Tuesday that Moncada's condition could be part of the decision-making process when it comes to who will be included on the White Sox 30-man roster.

"It would be foolish of me to think he could make a run of four, five, six days in a row," Renteria said.

But he'll play at least one day in a row, Friday when the White Sox start the 2020 campaign.


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