White Sox outfielder Nomar Mazara has reported to the team’s alternate training site, Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. He has been on the injured list since July 22 for an undisclosed reason.
It’s not known when Mazara will make his 2020 debut, but it’s nonetheless nice to see that he’s making progress. When he is able to take the field for the White Sox, it’ll be the 25-year-old’s first appearance in their uniform. Chicago acquired the former standout prospect from Texas during the offseason in one of many notable winter White Sox transactions.
Of course, it’s anyone’s guess whether Mazara will prove to be a valuable part of the White Sox team. Mazara looked like a can’t-miss farmhand during his younger days, but he failed to post inspiring production as a member of the Rangers, with whom he batted .261/.320/.435 (92 wRC+) with 79 home runs in 2,189 plate appearances from 2016-19. By measure of wRC+, Mazara was never even a league-average hitter in any of his seasons in Texas.
Defensively, Mazara has earned unspectacular reviews in right field, where he has logged minus-17 DRS and a 0.0 UZR across 3,000-plus innings. Once he’s ready to return, though, Mazara figures to take over the position for the White Sox, who have turned to Nicky Delmonico there in the early going this season.
Sounds like Covid-19
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Poor kid.
hurry back. big fan of nicky d, but he cant play anymore if they want to contend.
Hurry back, Nomar.
Whatever it takes to get Delmonico out of the lineup. And sorry, Goins isn’t going to cut it either. I can barely handle Engel in the lineup (but at least he’s hitting pretty well so far).
At least Engel provides some value with his terrific defense, even when he’s not hitting. They really need to replace Delmonico ASAP.
Delmonico has NO business being in the lineup, much less batting 4th. Whatever Renteria had must have scrambled his brain. I mean with Garcia playing 2nd instead of in RF the Sox are basically trying to say that Delmonico is better than Madrigal which is just hilarious or scary depending on how you view it.
Engel has seemingly developed at the plate a bit. Delmonico is just a mess. I don’t have any more confidence in him than I had for Daniel Palka last season.
I kind of wish those rumors of Yasiel Puig signing were true now with Mazara missing time. If he wasn’t a bad influence in the clubhouse, he could form a strong platoon with Mazara. But oh well… we still need quite a few pieces if we’re to be taken seriously as a “contender.”
This clown wasn’t the answer in Texas, he won’t be here either.
You guys have interest in Brett Gardner or no?
No
Definitely not. Why would anyone risk trading for a rental right now when there’s a decent chance the season won’t get finished?
And I’m sure there are better rentals than Gardner.
Nah, you’re stuck with that psycho.
Good thing he’s a free agent after 21. Relax he’s not a long term solution.
Yep, this should be exactly what will turn the season around for our Chisox. I mean, if they can use him as a starting pitcher.
Chisox starting pitchers among the worst staffs in baseball. All the love the Chicago media was giving the Sox for the last nine months – they never gave much thought to how unproven their starters were.
It’s like having an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.
The angel says: “Don’t take the bait”
The devil says: “But Dogbone makes himself such an easy target”
I guess I’ll go with the angel this time.
The media demonstrates foresight in turning toward the White Sox and away from the booze-cruise which Wrigley has become.
Cub trolls try too hard.
get him in soon, renteria seriously batted delmonico clean up tonight
Ugh.. that was awful. I hope we never have to see that again.
I just have to ask because I’ve seen nothing but respectful posters on this article. But where is chisoxcity or chisox311? (Or whatever their names are). Are they seriously that big of trolls to only comment on non Sox articles
Nomar is a good guy. Met him at fanfest in Texas and he just seems to exude kindness. But he’s only a so so player.
He’s still young though… I’m not a Tex or CHW fan but for some reason I really like Mazara and hope he can take that “next step” and tap into his full potential. Especially hearing stories like yours about how he’s a good guy… I just feel like he unfairly gets a bad wrap as ‘not living up to his potential’ but people fail to realize the kid broke into the majors at 21 and hit 20 homers a year before even turning 25 (more or less I know he only hit 19 last year)
Good to hear. He’ll fit in well with the Sox clubhouse then, tight bonding team
I think Mazara has a chance to really surprise some people if he can finally take that ‘next-step’ and tap into his raw power. People forget that he’s still really quite young and say that “if he hasn’t done it yet he’s not going to” but he’s young enough that guys his age are just now making it to the majors. So I still think there’s a good chance he can really make a few adjustments and could wind up being a ‘late-bloomer’ type guy who could go on to hit 30+ homers a year!
Aint gonna happen
@Cokeman1959
Apparently giving Mazara a chance isn’t an option for you.
I’m trying not to read too much into the Sox’ struggles so far, telling myself the Twins have the majors’ best offense and the Indians have one of the best pitching staffs, so it’s a tough way to open. I remind myself they’ve been without Eloy lately and without Mazara this year and Madrigal isn’t up yet. The problem is that the season is so short, they have less time to make up a huge deficit if they bury themselves early. The other problem is 1/3 of their games this year are against the Twins and Indians, so they can’t bomb against them and have any hopes of the playoffs. Come on, guys, get it together.
@hyraxwithaflamethrower
First, I’m actually into this season a lot more than I thought I’d be. Still, I’m not concerned with success (or lack thereof) this season in the W-L column. As I said a million times, I’m more concerned with development of key players.
That being said, I’m good with the offense, as long as they can stay healthy. This is a team that obviously can’t afford injuries. I never saw a scenario this season where Delmonico would bat cleanup, which is precisely what occurred last night, Game 2.
As for the rotation, the first cycle through was disastrous, save Keuchel. At least Lopez had an excuse getting lit up, with his shoulder injury. The other 3 (and Gonzalez for that matter), hopefully a lot of it was the lack of a Spring/Summer Training (and no, combining both doesn’t make it a full Spring Training–it doesn’t work that way). Hopefully it gets cleaned up the next outing or two for each. If nothing else, for Cease (and Lopez if he’s able to return this year) this will tell us whether or not they can stay in the rotation.
1-4 is hardly the ideal start, but now we can see what this team is made of, if this team is really ready to do some damage or still have quite a ways to go. Plus, we’ll see if Ricky is the man that should still be leading this team going forward.