Luisangel

Acuña

Once again we see Antonacci sitting with a left-hander on the hill as he appears to be locked into a strong-side platoon role at the moment with the White Sox. Luisangel Acuna will start in his place in left field and will bat ninth against Red Sox’ southpaw Ranger Suarez on Thursday evening at Fenway Park.

Montgomery fouled a ball off of his shin during the ninth inning of Saturday’s battle against the Astros. It was the second time in less than a week that he fouled a ball off of the same spot and was still experiencing soreness after receiving treatment on Saturday evening, so the White Sox will play it safe and give him a full day off to recover on Sunday. Luisangel Acuña will start in his place at shortstop and bat eighth against Astros’ righty Ronel Blanco.

Montgomery fouled a ball off his right shin during a seventh-inning at-bat and was replaced by Luisangel Acuña at shortstop the following frame. The power-hitting 24-year-old shortstop will undergo X-rays to determine whether he suffered any fractures. There should be an update on his status prior to Tuesday’s contest.

Montgomery told reporters he tweaked his back a couple weeks ago. He’ll continue receiving treatment and is likely to sit out Thursday’s series finale as well. It doesn’t sound like he’s in danger of requiring a trip to the injured list. It’ll be Luisangel Acuña handling shortstop once again in his absence.

White Sox manager Will Venable told reporters that Montgomery is day-to-day for now. The 24-year-old shortstop is hitting just .154 (4-for-26) with two homers and three RBI over his last seven games. Luisangel Acuña, who does not switch-hit, will take over at shortstop in his absence.

Acuña is up to 11 steals on the year now. He stole second and third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher in the top of the third inning. Acuña also stole second base in the eighth inning. He’s hitting just .179 in limited playing time, but has shown he has speed to burn.

One of the reasons the Mets were willing to part with Acuña over the winter was that he was already out of options at age 24, and the speedster has spent this season looking like he belongs in Triple-A. He’s hitting .169/.235/.182 with one extra-base hit in 86 plate appearances. Acuña has pretty good bat speed, doesn’t strike out all that much and can run with anyone, so the tools are there. He’s just not ready yet.

The double, which was sent 378 feet to right-center, just missed being his first homer since 2024, when he somehow had three in 14 games for the Mets. He’s gone 112 games without one since. He’s much more prolific when it comes to stealing bases. He got his fifth tonight, making him 21-for-22 there since the beginning of last year.

The White Sox are now up to three position players on the IL, so playing time hasn’t been an issue for Acuña. We wouldn’t expect much in the other categories, but he might make a run at 40 steals if he starts 130+ games.

With Brooks Baldwin (elbow) starting the season on the injured list, Acuña is getting a shot to be the regular centerfielder. The 24-year-old enjoyed a nice spring, slashing .409/.458/.545 in 48 plate appearances with one home run and four steals. Acuña has hit .249/.299/.341 in his 233 MLB plate appearances, so the batting average production this spring may be a bit of a mirage. However, he also has 16 steals in those 233 plate appearances, so if he gets every day playing time, he could be a major asset in that category.