The White Sox announced that southpaw Dallas Keuchel has been activated off the 10-day injured list in advance of his scheduled start tonight against the Reds. Right-hander Jonathan Stiever was optioned to the club’s alternate training site to create roster space.
Keuchel was placed on the IL due to back spasms, and since his placement was retroactive to September 7, he will return having missed only a couple of days past the 10-day minimum. The injury wasn’t thought to be overly serious in the first place, and Keuchel will now get to make at least one tune-up start before the White Sox begin their postseason run.
Signed to a three-year, $55.5MM free agent deal last winter, Keuchel has thus far been a big plus for the White Sox, posting a 2.19 ERA over his first 53 1/3 innings on the South Side. ERA predictors (3.19 FIP, 3.84 xFIP, 4.42 SIERA) are naturally less impressed with Keuchel due to his lack of strikeouts, as he has only a 5.4 K/9. As always, however, Keuchel is generating a ton of grounders (56% grounder rate), and this season has done a better job than ever of keeping the ball in the park. The left-hander has a league-best 0.3 HR/9 this year, a massive improvement over the 1.3 HR/9 he posted over 112 2/3 innings with the Braves in 2019.
