As manager Will Venable told reporters last night (including James Fegan of Sox Machine), the White Sox have placed Austin Hays on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. In a corresponding move, they selected the contract of Dustin Harris from Triple-A Charlotte. Mike Vasil has been transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to free up space on the 40-man roster.
Hays, 30, signed a one-year, $6MM contract with the White Sox this offseason. He started in left field in eight of Chicago’s first 10 games, though he was off to a slow start, with a .586 OPS and a 56 wRC+ through 33 trips to the plate. During the fourth inning of yesterday’s game, Hays injured his hamstring while tracking down a fly ball. It was immediately apparent he was hurt as he hopped the last several feet toward the ball, and he exited after the play. The White Sox have not yet revealed the severity of the strain.
With no more healthy position players left on their 40-man roster, the White Sox called on Harris to replace Hays. The 26-year-old signed a minor league contract with Chicago this past winter. He appeared in 21 games with the Rangers from 2024-25, playing all three outfield positions and slugging two home runs and four doubles. While his days as a top-10 organizational prospect for Texas are behind him, he runs well and once flashed promising power with his lefty swing. Unfortunately for Harris, the fact that he’s a lefty batter could make it difficult for Venable to get him in the lineup; fellow White Sox outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Tristan Peters also bat left-handed.
As for Vasil, this move was inevitable. The right-hander recently underwent Tommy John surgery and will sit out the 2026 season. After they swapped Harris in for Vasil, the White Sox’s 40-man roster remains full, though they will be able to move Brooks Baldwin to the 60-day IL the next time they need a 40-man spot. Baldwin recently underwent a season-ending internal brace procedure.
I’m fine with Harris, but we need to pull up Lemont Wade Jr. and send down Murray.
He’s not really on OF anymore. Though, I guess Benintendi can shift back to LF more *shudders*
Could just be that Harris has options and can go back down though.
FanGraphs shows Harris with 0 options left.
Thanks. Brings more versatility I guess.
Benintendi is due for a calf strain. Should come with his second start in LF
3rd
I know it’s early, and this team is still rebuilding but they already look better than when they starter the 2025 season.
Coming into spring training, it looked like they’d either have to DFA one of Acuña, Pereira or Hill, or option Baldwin if a few other guys played out of their heads. Now Pereira, Baldwin and Hays are down; Kelenic doesn’t hit, anymore.
Dominic Fletcher decided to try his luck in another organization, and had he stayed, he’d probably have a month of starting in the bigs ahead of him.
The depth is definitely being tested right now.
Why would Harris batting from the left side be a bad thing? An all lefty outfield would be ideal in some situations, I mean there are plenty of right handed starting pitchers we’ll face, plus Benintendi shouldn’t even play the OF anymore. He was responsible for most of the brewers runs in that one game. It was bad.
Baldwin hurt his throwing arm first week of spring training. Good grief. Acuna could definitely be next. Acuna is a LF because the throw is easier.
Man, I really like Austin Hays. Good dude and good player (when healthy). He was very solid his one year playing for the Reds in 2025, but was on the IL three times I believe.
He’s had a nice career and has made a very good living. I fear he doesn’t have too many years left due to all these injuries piling up … and he’s kind of a small-ish guy stature-wise, which doesn’t bode well as he ages.
I hope this is short trip to the IL. Always have liked the White Sox as my AL team, and Hays is a good dude.
probably should’ve been antonacci, but i’m guessing this is a relatively minor injury for hays and they don’t want to burn an option on a potential future piece
The White Sox don’t really have any impacting outfielders at AAA who figure to be potential core pieces going forward with one possible exception…Sam Antonacci.
Up until this spring, Antonacci has exclusively been an infielder with most of his work at 2B and 3B. The White Sox have an abundance of top middle infield prospects in their system to say nothing of Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth on their active roster.
Knowing this, the organization began giving LF reps to Antonacci in spring training and have already had him out on the grass 5 times in 7 starts to begin his 2026 season at AAA Charlotte. His other two starts were at 2B, the infield position he profiles best at.
If this trend continues and Antonacci continues his torrid hitting it won’t be long before he makes his way to Rate Field and potentially as the White Sox long term fix in LF. Versatility will be an added plus with his history of INF work also on his resume similar to new CF Luisangel Acuña.
The next White Sox core outfield piece is RF Braden Montgomery at AA Birmingham. Another productive month or two there will likely see his promotion to AAA. It’s a realistic scenario to imagine both Antonacci and Montgomery as outfield corner mates for the White Sox when the 2026 season finishes.