Andrew Benintendi pushing for return ASAP to White Sox lineup

TEMPE, Ariz. – Andrew Benintendi is aiming high, saying a return by Opening Day is the goal.

Ruled out 4-6 weeks after suffering a a non-displaced fracture of his right hand — a non-surgical injury — Benintendi will be hard-pressed to be present when the Sox host the Angels March 27 at Rate Field, so don’t count on it.

“Conservatively speaking, that might be a little quick,” general manager Chris Getz said.

But a man can dream.

“I’m going to try and push that and hopefully the bone heals quicker,” Benintendi, the Sox' left fielder, said Friday. “We’ll see what happens.”

Guardians left-hander Logan Allen’s up-and-in pitch got Benintendi below the pinky knuckle Thursday.

“I feel like I can make a fist and grab but you have to let the bone heal,” Benintendi said. “Hopefully it’s less than four weeks. We’ll come up with a plan and see what happens. I want to be out there by Opening Day but time will tell.”

Benintendi will need at-bats somewhere before it's time, so it seems hard to fathom. The Sox will likely struggle to produce runs, so having their highest paid player, who showed signs in the last two months of 2024 to being the hitter the Sox expected when they signed him was a good sign. Benintendi is in the third season of a five-year, $75 million contract, the richest in franchise history.

Goal No. 1 for all in spring training is to stay healthy, but save for unwise and unnecessary leaps at the wall or diving attempts in the field, some are unavoidable. Benintendi said he hadn’t heard from Allen, who probably feels as bad as anyone.

“It’s part of the game,” Benintendi said. “You see guys now trying to pitch in, you see guys get hit on the hands all the time. Especially more recently. It kind of stinks. You miss four to six weeks. It’s part of it, I guess. Yeah.

“You work all offseason to get ready for this and things like this happen. It’s not the end of the world, but it sucks."

Thumper

Infielder Lenyn Sosa has been an offensive bright spot in camp, with three hits including a double and two walks in seven plate appearances.

“He just looks like a guy who looks like he can hit, right?” manager Will Venable said. “He's a hitter and we know controlling the zone is going to be something that he'll continue to work on. But there's thump, there's an understanding of situations, ability to use the whole field. Just a lot to like with him at the plate.”

Going against Sosa as he vies for an Opening Day roster spot: His defense is behind his offense. Going for him: He’s out of minor league options.

Sosa’s productive Winter League performance was cut short by the same injury Benintendi suffered. Theh good news on that, Getz said, is that Sosa “bounced back from it pretty quickly.”

Could have been a contender

Martin Perez raised eyebrows saying the Sox are “contenders,” quite the stretch for a team coming off 121 losses. But as Benintendi said, “there’s no reason to go into the season thinking this thing is already over.”

Players just aren’t wired that way.

“I don't think that that's fair to anybody here, if we're not going out and expecting to win every game," first-year manager Will Venable said, "and understanding there are things we need to work on to achieve that is very important. But yeah, we're going out with the expectation that we're going to do all the little things that we have to do to win a game.”