White Sox send Gonzalez back to minors

It’ll be Jared Triolo drawing another start at shortstop with Gonzalez presumably available off the bench for the nightcap of Saturday’s twin bill against Milwaukee. The 24-year-old infielder was picked up in a trade with the White Sox on Friday night. He’s likely to step in as Pittsburgh’s starting shortstop in place of an injured Konnor Griffin (finger) until early September.

Gonzalez is presumably en route to Pittsburgh and could make his Pirates debut as soon as the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at PNC Park. The 24-year-old is expected to step in as the club’s starting shortstop in place of Konnor Griffin until at least early September after being acquired from the White Sox on Friday night. He’s displayed a noticeable uptick in exit velocity this season, helping drive an offensive breakout at the Triple-A level. He’s a middle infielder worth monitoring in deeper fantasy formats, particularly if he secures everyday at-bats with Pittsburgh.

The procedural move opens a spot on Pittsburgh’s roster for shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, who was acquired from the White Sox in a trade on Friday night. Griffin is recovering from a torn sagittal band in his left ring finger that is expected to sideline him until early September. The 20-year-old prodigy is worth stashing in deeper fantasy leagues, but he’s unlikely to make a significant impact given how much time he’s set to miss.

As Jeff Passan of ESPN reported earlier, the expectation is that Gonzalez will join the Pirates immediately and function as their regular shortstop while Konnor Griffin is sidelined. The 24-year-old held his own in his debut with the White Sox, hitting .244/.323/.360 with a pair of homers and 17 RBI in 97 plate appearances.

Gonzalez was bumped off the White Sox’ big league roster on Friday with the return of Munetaka Murakami after slashing .244/.323/.360 with two homers and 17 RBI in 97 plate appearances. Passan notes that the Pirates plan to play Gonzalez at shortstop while Konnor Griffin is shelved. Eisert also adds a veteran arm to a bullpen that is in desperate need of reinforcements.

Murakami, who has been out since late May, has played two straight games in Triple-A Charlotte. If this report is true, Murakami would get a handful of at-bats this weekend before the All-Star Break hits. Merkin speculates that Jacob Gonzalez being demoted would seem “the likely move.”

A week ago, Gonzalez was hitting .163 and seemed like a lock to be sent down to the minors once Munetaka Murakami came off the IL, if not before. However, his last six games have seen him go 11-for-24 with four doubles, a homer and 12 RBI, putting him at .260/.340/.397 in 82 plate appearances overall. He’s still not promised anything, but given that he can play anywhere in the infield, he now certainly has a chance of sticking around once Murakami comes back.

Gonzalez got the White Sox on the scoreboard with an RBI double into the right-center field gap off Orioles starter Shane Baz in the third inning. He padded Chicago’s lead with a two-run single off Orioles reliever Yennier Cano in the ninth inning. The 24-year-old rookie got off to a slow start after arriving in the big leagues, but he’s been in a groove lately, hitting .333 (8-for-24) with one homer and nine RBI over his last seven games.

Vargas takes a seat for the first time since May 20. The 26-year-old has put together a phenomenal season as one of Chicago’s primary catalysts, slashing .237/.354/.467 with a career-high 16 home runs, 44 RBI and 10 steals in 323 plate appearances over 74 games. A quick break to recharge both mentally and physically makes a ton of sense since he’s been scuffling recently, hitting .111 (3-for-27) over his last seven games and has just three homers since the start of June. It’ll be rookie Jacob Gonzalez getting a look at the cold corner in his place.

Gonzalez started off 8-for-24 with a homer though eight big-league games, but with this 0-for-15, his OPS has dipped from .887 to .593. He still probably has a couple of weeks to show what he can do, but he’ll need to fare pretty well to avoid getting sent down when Munetaka Murakami comes off the IL.