PITTSBURGH -- Shane Smith went from discussing the great memories of his first All-Star appearance to a trip to the 15-day injured list in less than 24 hours.
The right-hander, who was the lone White Sox All-Star representative and the first rookie pitcher in franchise history to be selected to the Midsummer Classic, was placed out of action Saturday afternoon with a left ankle sprain. The move is retroactive to July 16. The injury happened while Smith was running outside during the team’s workout day Thursday at PNC Park.
“Rolled his ankle running. It’s his lead leg, his plant leg, which for him is his left leg,” said White Sox manager Will Venable. “Puts him in a tough spot to be able to make his start. But hopefully it’s the short version here. He can continue to throw as he tolerates his pain and should be in a good spot to come off [the IL] in a couple of weeks.”
“We did the imaging; everything came back clean for the most part,” said White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield. “It shouldn't be too long after he's eligible to be reinstated.”
Missing Smith is far from ideal for the White Sox, but if the injury portion was removed from the equation, the timing is not awful. Smith had a 2.37 ERA as of June 10 but has allowed 23 earned runs over his past 18 1/3 innings, while his innings total has grown to 86 2/3 for the season.
In his last start on July 11 against the Guardians, Smith was limited to three innings and 46 pitches. The White Sox won’t commit to any sort of reduced innings plan for all their young starters reaching individual single-season innings highs, including Davis Martin, Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon, but this IL trip will give Smith a two- or three-start break.
“It's probably too soon to say,” said Barfield when asked if this injury changes Smith’s usage plan down the stretch. “But we have it mapped out. We've run through a lot of different scenarios to make sure we're not redlining him. This is for a long season, a full season, and we want to make sure he's not going over a certain threshold of innings."
Martin, who is on the IL with a right forearm strain, should be ready to go in Smith’s place Tuesday against the Rays. He made his last injury rehab start for Triple-A Charlotte on July 13, and despite taking a line drive off the head, he stayed in the game to finish his 3 2/3 innings and suffered no after-effects.
“It was definitely something you don’t really think about until it happens,” Martin told MLB.com of the line drive, which luckily caught part of the glove before connecting. “Then it’s the only thing you can think about.”
Smith, 25, pitched one-third of an inning in Atlanta at the All-Star Game, becoming the second player after the Marlins’ Dan Uggla (2006) to make the All-Star team in the year immediately following his selection in the Rule 5 Draft; he was the No. 1 pick by the White Sox in December.
Now, he’ll have to wait a few weeks to build off that momentum.
“Definitely a different buzz to it, especially coming out of the bullpen,” said Smith of the All-Star work before the injury was announced. “You warm up -- it’s kind of like a quick phone call.
“You get some butterflies and it’s like, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be in the game here in eight, nine or 10 minutes.’ You don’t have days notice, so definitely some butterflies.”
The White Sox also recalled reliever Wikelman González from Triple-A Charlotte, reinstated utility player Brooks Baldwin from the IL and optioned outfielder Will Robertson to Charlotte.