Game Thread: White Sox (7-14) At Athletics (11-10)

It’s Noah Schultz Day, everyone!

A second big league debut is imminent for the highly touted 22-year-old Chicagoland native, in what has become one of the most anticipated April contests in recent memory.

Let’s take a few observations about Schultz’s debut so we can understand what we can expect today. According to Baseball Savant, Schultz flashed his entire six-pitch arsenal, but relied largely on four offerings. He used his sinker and four-seam fastball in roughly equal proportions against right- and left-handed hitters, with both hitting around 97 mph, which would be the fourth-fastest average among all big league lefties this year. Against lefty hitters, Schultz turned to the sweeper as his out pitch, which worked to the extent that hitters went 0-3 against it with two strikeouts. Against righties, Schultz turned into something Lance Lynn-esque, producing an even mix of four-seamers, sinkers and cutters that function somewhat like a breaking ball. Occasionally, he would also try to get a hitter with a back-foot sweeper that was almost reminiscent of how Carlos Rodon used to attack hitters in his peak.

The thing to watch today is Schultz’s change. He throws it 14% of the time against righties in Triple-A, but he used it just twice on Tuesday. With Jeff McNeil and Carlos Cortes getting a day off, the A’s are running out of heavy right-handers out of the lineup. Schultz will need that changeup to continue developing, as his command of his sweeper and right-side slider was poor Tuesday and he needs a secondary out pitch to keep hitters on their toes if they’re not cutting on breaking balls. If Schultz can get better control of those pitches or find a way to use his changeup effectively, we could have a pretty fun debut on our hands.

Here is the lineup that Sacramento manager Mark Kotsey has posted for his surprisingly competitive squad, which sits in a tie for first place in the AL West at this early juncture:

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Will Venable competed with the following behind Schultz:

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Incredibly, this is the 18th different lineup in 18 games for Venable, putting himself in trouble with my fiery claim that “consistency is key.” Anyway, the main change of the day is Miguel Vargas moving up to second, his first start of the year. It’s a relief that the Andrew Benintendi leadoff experiment has already done its job.

The one-two punch of Chase Miedroth and Vargas is an arrangement I really like. Both of them are very difficult to take out and are adept at making contact with anything they swing at. With the fast-paced methods of Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Everson Pereira, it makes sense to put hitters ahead of them who can get on base the old-fashioned way, and occasionally give incoming hitters an extended look at the pitcher’s arsenal if his ability to make contact results in longer at-bats.

Speaking of which, Pereira has been rewarded for his early slugging by batting cleanup for the fourth time this week at the expense of Montgomery. Sam Antonio gets the afternoon off.

Before the game, the White Sox announced that the revolving door of 13th pitchers on the roster continued, as freshly claimed Osvaldo Bido (6.30 ERA in six games with Atlanta) pushed Doug Nikhazy back to Charlotte.

And just for the hell of it, here’s video of Murakami’s huge grand slam the other night:

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First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. CT, live from Sacramento. If you’d like to join us, broadcasts are available as usual on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio)!