Pregame Notes: Bryan Ramos to the IL after all

While I promise third base coach Eddie Rodríguez was really interesting and insightful talking about the work that goes into diversifying Bryan Ramos‘ arm angles when he throws on the run, it feels like it would be better to discuss his defensive development when it’s actually taking place on the field.

The White Sox did wind up putting Ramos on the injured list Friday with a left quadricep strain, pivoting from Pedro Grifol’s stated hope that he would play Friday night in New York, to sidelining him for the duration of the road trip. He would be eligible to return halfway through a four-game home set against the Orioles. Danny Mendick returned from his rehab stint to take Ramos spot at third base, as he and the 22-year-old continue to exist in symbiosis, rather than conflict.

“You could tell in spring training that he was talented and had it all,” Mendick said of Ramos. “For him to come up here and take advantage of opportunities, it’s awesome, it’s really awesome. It’s good to see, because that’s what you want. That’s what you want to do and that’s what you want other guys to do.”

Fresh off playing both halves of a doubleheader in Charlotte on Thursday, Corey Julks is the right-handed counter to a heavy slate of left-handed opposing starters on this road trip, and starting in right field Friday night. Julks has killed lefties in Triple-A this season (1.113 OPS), even if his platoon advantage was largely neutralized in his major league chances last year with Houston. Braden Shewmake was optioned to make room, as he’s 1-for-the-month-of-May at the plate and his role is now redundant with Zach Remillard.

It seemed like we were getting to the point of Gavin Sheets playing everyday regardless of situation, and his swing decisions still merit enthusiasm. But a 5-for-40 start to May, even while walking more than striking out, has probably cooled enthusiasm for him starting against lefties.

The difference between effective or not for Mike Clevinger on the mound seems to be around three inches. That’s about how much higher his release point was across all of his pitches in his second outing of the season, where he came an out shy of five-innings of one-run ball, despite running into a wall stamina-wise in the fourth.

Given all the symptoms the initial problem of dropping his front side in his delivery created during his season debut–poor command, diminished and loopier movement on his sweeper and cutter–it did not read as a five-day fix, but the initial returns were encouraging.

“Especially the gyro [slider]: I was throwing it 81 mph the last start and now I’m back at 85-86 mph where I wanted to be,” Clevinger said. “I was just getting back to myself. Once I felt it out that it wasn’t actually that bad. It was something I didn’t realize I was doing. I was subconsciously getting the front side low and it was causing my arm side to drop. So I was almost feeling almost sidearm against Tampa. Raising that front side, for every counter move there’s a reaction so once I raised my front side my arm slot got back on top.”

Now all he has to do is keep it going for another two and a half months uninterrupted or so, and it’s mission accomplished. But Friday night in the Bronx will be plenty for testing proof of concept of Clevinger as an appealing asset for contenders.

Even the version of Chris Flexen that the White Sox were trying to restore is kind of hard to explain to outsiders. Strikeouts are the most objective form of success pitchers can enjoy, and generating ground balls reduces home runs–the most objective form of failure. In Flexen’s career-best 2021 season, he did neither at an average level. So how did it work before, or how is it supposed to work now?

As it turns out, throwing the baseball high overhead like a javelin at a time when few others in the league even come close to the same release, is a big part of producing swings that are just off enough to end in lazy fly balls.

“He’s a very unique look with his release height,” said pitching coach Ethan Katz. “It’s different from a lot of our guys. You’ve got a sinkerball guy and then he comes out and he’s throwing four-seams from as high as you’ll see in baseball. He’s got back deception he lost last year, making some good mechanical adjustments.”

With Brad Keller starting on Saturday, the White Sox will be slotting Flexen behind a sinkerballer again, whether by intention or happy accident, even if Yankee Stadium is not the best place for a fly ball pitcher to lower their 4.46 ERA.

Talk of Flexen being a trade asset is something that is technically always true. Being able to serve as a swingman (though he strongly prefers starting) and having a low salary (roughly two-thirds of a one-year, $1.75 million still owed to him) soften the barriers to dealing him in a way that performance can only alter so much. He had a 7.71 ERA last season when he was traded to the Mets (and released three days later). But the tell tale signs of the Sox maxing him out–and his value–are keeping his already straight-on angle to the plate as straight as possible.

“He’s started to really get into a groove with getting his mechanics locked down and getting his delivery intact,” Katz said. “Where he wasn’t like, falling over and pulling his head out, and getting back to where he was working that north-south window. Right now he’s repeating and getting his balls into good spots.”

Michael Kopech’s cutter has recently been employed as a tool to coax him back into the strike zone when his fastball is spraying wildly, as it has been known to do both historically and recently. It’s most intriguing quality as a weapon is that it’s thrown hard as hell. It’s best attribute for reining in Kopech’s command is that it doesn’t ask him to deviate from his primary mode, which is throwing hard as hell.

“It’s tougher for the hitter because of No. 1, the velo,” Katz said. “But No. 2, the ball is not popping. The feedback he got from hitters on the secondary stuff is it pops sometimes. When it pops, they’re able to identify it and see it a little bit better. [He’s] keeping the aggressive approach with the fastball and the aggressive breaking ball, keeping it on line and trying to avoid anything that’s coming out of the line that’s popping.”

Ah, well.

First Pitch: White Sox at Yankees

First pitch: 6:05 PM CT
TV: NBC Sports Chicago

Lineups

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon