Gamethread: White Sox at Angels

Hello White Sox fans! I’m back from my Wednesday coverage last year and returning to Sunday coverage this year — and all I’m saying is when I covered Sundays they made the playoffs, so I’m glad to be back here.

In all seriousness, is anyone still getting used to having games every day now? Because I’m loving it. The South Siders will take a trip to Tempe Diablo Stadium to play the Angels this afternoon. Two lefties will be on the mound: Tanner Banks and Reid Detmers.

Banks appeared in and out of the bullpen last season, where he found himself getting called up from the a decent amount of time from Triple-A Charlotte. He appeared in 35 games in Chicago, where he had a 2-0 record, 3.06 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 42 hits, and 1.13 WHIP in 53 innings. Bankes relies on four pitches — his fastball, used 44.9% of the time, followed by a slider (29.8%), changeup (20%), and curveball (5.4%). Although Banks will probably not be a starter this season (don’t quote me on that, you never know with this team), it is nice to see Pedro Grifol trying out different options on the mound in case we need them.

Detmers will be on the mound for the Angels, looking to have a breakout season after being the 10th pick in the draft in 2020. He started 25 games games last season, where he had a 7-6 record, 3.77 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 122 strikeouts — and a no-hitter. He relies on five pitches, a fastball used 44.1% of the time followed by a slider (25.5%), curveball (18.2%), changeup (11.3%), and sinker (0.9%).

Today’s original lineup had Yoán Moncada leading off and Luis Robert Jr. following, but both were healthy scratches and replaced with Jake Marisnick and Billy Hamilton, now batting in the 9-spot. Oscar Colás will get the start in right, Hanser Alberto will on second base, and Jake Burger will get the start at first. Bryan Ramos is now at third, Victor Reyes will DH, and Seby Zavala is behind the plate. Erik González will get the start at shortstop, followed by Hamilton. Not our usual lineup, but it doesn’t hurt to see what some of these other guys can do in the spring.

Game time is at 2:10 p.m. CT. Unfortunately we cannot watch the game on NBCSCHI or listen in, but the Angels are televising it on their network, so there is still a way to see it if you can!