Danny Mendick was scratched from the lineup before the Chicago White Sox were defeated 3-0 by the St. Louis Cardinals last night.
The Sox will need some reinforcements in the infield while he deals with that issue. It looks like the White Sox are calling upon one of their top-five prospects to provide that cover.
Source: Bryan Ramos is indeed being called up by the #WhiteSox. If he plays, it’ll be his big league debut. https://t.co/MyJIsHx7YP
— James Fox (@JamesFox917) May 4, 2024
With Yoan Moncada out and now Mendick dinged up, the Sox need Ramos to fill a spot in the lineup at third base. How much playing time he gets remains to be seen.
The Sox have a history of calling up top prospects only to have them sit.
The Sox called up Lenyn Sosa back in 2022 only to have him sit most of the time during his cup of coffee with the team. Last year, Jose Rodriguez was called up for a brief moment too with a lot of time spent on the bench. Hey, the per diem money is good.
Ramos is considered the team's fourth-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline and ranks sixth according to Sox on 35th (who do great work covering the team's prospects).
Ramos getting the call up is interesting for two reasons...
The first reason is Ramos has never gotten to Triple-A. The second reason is Ramos is off to a slow start for the Birmingham Barons with a .182 average and a .572 OPS.
The Sox cannot call up Sosa back up as he is on the IL in Triple-A. So that leaves Ramos as really the only third base option in the system with the potential to do well in the bigs.
Plus, Sosa is the classic 4A player--someone who can rake at Triple-A and do nothing in the majors. Even if Lenyn was healthy, it cannot hurt to see what Ramos can do.
It would have been nice to see a different prospect get a call-up like Colson Montgomery. He is the Sox' top prospect and the hope is the shortstop makes his debut sometime this season. It looks like the focus is getting help at third as the Sox only have Nicky Lopez and Braden Shewmake who can play third. With the infield already thin on bodies, they need Lopez at second.
Shewmake is hitting .149 with a .163 OBP, so maybe the hope is Ramos can produce some more offense than what they are getting out of Shewmake if Bryan is able to crack the lineup.
The lineup could use as much help as it can get as the unit was shut out for the ninth time this season last night. The unit ranks dead last or near the bottom in almost every statistical category.
Also, Ramos appears to be the future at third base with Moncada constantly being injured and has a massive club option next season that is unlikely to be exercised.
It will be interesting to see if Mendick has to go on the IL as part of the corresponding move or if the club has grown tired of Shewmake. At least the team is finally acknowledging that they should not play a man down, so progress.