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Sox slice seven from camp

Matt Foster will not be the last reliever in the major league pen

By Year of the Hamster
Chicago White Sox v Seattle Mariners
Keep the hotline close: Matt Foster will ply his trade at Charlotte to being the season, but will be on the short list for a call-up.
Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images

The first cuts of spring came through on Friday morning, and seven White Sox learned they’d be playing the rest of their 2020 in minor league camp:

  • RHRP Matt Foster
  • RHSP Jonathan Stiever
  • RHSP Dane Dunning
  • RHSP Jimmy Lambert
  • RHRP Ryan Burr
  • 1B-3B Matt Skole
  • LHRP Hunter Schryver

The closest to a surprise is Foster, who was in the mix for a bullpen spot and had acquitted himself at least as well as fellow righty Carson Fulmer. But Fulmer is a former first-rounder out of options, so a competitor is just going to have to blow the White Sox away (or Fulmer will have to utterly melt down) to make the team. Foster struggled a bit against the juicy Triple-A ball last season but should take a place among the short-list call-ups to the South Side when bullpen injuries and/or slumps come — and they always do.

Birmingham is the destination for TJS-rehabbing starters Dunning and Lambert, and they will not be active to begin the 2020 season. Burr is in the same situation, but the reliever was not designated to a specific affiliate; presumably he will continue his rehab work in Charlotte.

All others were reassigned to minor league camp in general. Skole will surely settle in at Charlotte as corner infield depth. Schryver is batting through injury and may not begin the 2020 season on an active roster. And Stiever was just enjoying a taste of the big time with his major league camp invite, as a reward for his stellar 2019; look for him to start in Birmingham, with an outside chance at Charlotte.

Today’s cuts leave 60 players in major-league camp: 32 pitchers, six catchers, 11 infielders and 11 outfielders.

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