GLENDALE, Ariz. — Left fielder Nicky Delmonico was taken off the field on a cart after he into the outfield fence near the corner in the seventh inning of the White Sox’ Cactus League game Thursday against the Brewers.
Delmonico was being checked for a possible concussion.
Delmonico, who had just entered the game, was attempting to catch a deep drive by Manny Pina, who circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run as Delmonico lay on the ground. He was down for several moments as Sox manager Rick Renteria and trainer Brian Ball ran out to check on him.
Renteria and Ball helped Delmonico to the cart.
“From what we heard, he hit the gate so hard that it popped the gate,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters after the game. “Broke it. And then there was an exposed pole that he hit his head on pretty good. Pretty scary. The guys in the bullpen said he hit his head pretty hard.”
Delmonico, 6-for-15 this spring, is in a battle this spring to win a spot on the Opening Day roster.
Sliding head first ‘part of my game,’ Robert says
Getting center field prospect Luis Robert to stop sliding head first won’t be easy.
“That’s part of my game,” Robert said. “That’s how I feel comfortable.”
Robert, the No. 40-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, has been sidelined by injuries to his left thumb three times, most recently jamming it on a head-first slide into second base on a stolen base attempt during an intrasquad game Saturday.
“Those are the things you sometimes can’t control,” Robert said through translator Billy Russo. “When I got on base, I wasn’t planning to steal the base. I have that instinct and I just took off. That was why I wasn’t wearing my protective glove that time. But if you remember, I hit two triples [this spring] and I slid head-first and nothing happened.”
Sox manager Rick Renteria said Robert must wear protection for the thumb and to consider sliding feet first more often — and keep his hands up when he does.
“We talk about it and monitor his action on the field and correct it when we need to,” Renteria said. “We’ve emphasized without any reservation we want him to wear that protective hand guard that he has when he’s on the bases.”
Jimenez honors late grandfather
Top prospect Eloy Jimenez takes a knee and bows his head in the on-deck circle before his first at-bat of each game, a tribute to his grandfather, Martin Guerrero, who passed away in 2017.
“I started doing it when my grandpa died,” Jimenez said. “I was really close to him.”
Jimenez, the No. 3-ranked prospect in baseball who will likely make his Sox debut in late April, is 3-for-20 this spring with seven strikeouts after going 0-for-3 Thursday. Renteria, who batted him fourth in the team’s Cactus League opener against the Dodgers, has since moved him down. He batted seventh against the Brewers Thursday.
Jimenez combined to hit .337/.384/.577 with 28 doubles, three triples and 22 homers between Class AA Birmingham and AAA Charlotte.
