Jerry

Owens

Getting an early start on the playoff roster shenanigans. By calling up Owens now, the White Sox can include him on their playoff roster on Sept. 1 and give themselves some flexibility later on.

Owens, who was called up and placed on the DL on Aug. 26 for playoff roster purposes, will serve mostly as a pinch-runner.

Owens, 24, hit .331/.393/.406 with 38 steals in 58 attempts for Double-A Birmingham this season. He’s nearly certain to begin next year in Triple-A, but he’ll probably spend some time in the majors as a backup before the season is over. He currently projects as a very good reserve.

Owens is off to a 10-for-19 start in Venezuela.

With 21 hits in 40 at-bats, Owens is batting .525. No one else in the league has more than 15 hits.

It certainly doesn’t get as much attention as the Cristian Guzman signing, but one of Nats GM Jim Bowden’s worst moves since taking over was to give Owens to the White Sox in exchange for Alex Escobar. Owens, 24, hit .331/.393/.406 with 38 steals in 58 attempts for Double-A Birmingham last season and is batting .407/.490/.494 in 81 AB in Venezuela.

Owens hit .170 with two extra-base hits and two walks in 53 at-bats after being picked over Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney to fill in for Darin Erstad. He’ll be back in September, but the White Sox will likely go in a different direction should an injury or a trade open up another outfield spot before then.

The White Sox really are that far down on Brian Anderson. Owens was hitting .305/.386/.389 with 23 steals in 30 attempts for Charlotte, giving him essentially the same OPS as Anderson. However, he’s not nearly the defender Anderson is. In fact, he’s best utilized in left field. The White Sox will likely try him as their center fielder and leadoff man against right-handers for now, so AL-only leaguers looking for steals should pick him up. He probably won’t contribute much elsewhere.

Owens entered with a .227/.267/.247 line in 81 at-bats. He’s probably going to be sent down if the White Sox get Scott Podsednik and Darin Erstad back.

The White Sox exploded for nine runs in the sixth, making it an 11-2 game, but even that wasn’t a safe lead for the team’s pen. Starter John Danks allowed three runs in the sixth, and Matt Thornton, Ryan Bukvich and Boone Logan combined on a five-run eighth. Bobby Jenks barely stopped the bleeding in the ninth by stranding the tying run on second. Owens had his strong game in a rare start against a left-hander. He’s trying to build a case to stick around after Scott Podsednik and Darin Erstad return, though with a .237/.290/.258 line in 93 at-bats, it still doesn’t look very good for him.