CHICAGO -- The White Sox received positive news on the Austin Hays injury front Tuesday, with the veteran outfielder suffering a Grade 1 right hamstring strain and expected to be out of action for 2 to 4 weeks, per manager Will Venable.
Outfielder Dustin Harris, 26, had his contract purchased from Triple-A Charlotte with Hays going on the 10-day injured list, as Harris arrived in Chicago Tuesday morning prior to the game’s 2:10 p.m. first pitch. But the White Sox are in the middle of a rebuild, and certainly with no offense to the left-handed-hitting Harris, the supportive fan base wants to see the top prospects in action.
So the question being asked Monday night, after Hays suffered the injury in-game against Baltimore, through Tuesday was: Why not Sam Antonacci? The No. 9 White Sox prospect had a breakout 2025 Minor League campaign, followed by equally impressive showings at this past big league Spring Training and for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
Antonacci is also learning the outfield for the first time. That learning process is better served for now at Charlotte.
“Sam is going to be a part of this thing. He’s got work to do,” Venable said. “He’s got to continue to be exposed to the outfield. Part of being a growing player in the outfield is making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. That’s where you really grow the most. So, given the opportunity to do that a little bit makes sense.
“We have a number of lefties coming up here. As we are kind of piecing it all together … We think about Sam all the time but in this case Dustin was the right guy.”
Through 26 at-bats and seven games for the Knights, Antonacci has a .346 average, 1.143 OPS, two home runs and four stolen bases. The left-handed hitter, who was hit by a pitch 35 times last season and homered off Jameson Taillon and Tanner Bibee during Spring Training, has started five games at left and two games at second for Charlotte.
Harris has two homers in 21 games over Major League stints with the Rangers in ‘24 and ‘25.
“Really excited about everything he can do,” said Venable of Harris. “Offensively, controlling the zone, he’s a good baserunner. He’s a guy you can trust is going to do the right thing on defense. You will see him out there, potentially at the end of games if a lefty is starting like today. You might see him start in left field against right-handed pitching.”
“[During] spring I felt good,” Harris said. “I feel like we came in and had a plan and stuck to it. Got a lot done in spring and it’s been continuing that and like where I’m at right now.”
Brooks Baldwin will not be available to the White Sox in the 2026 season. The one-time infielder, who worked almost exclusively in the outfield during Spring Training, elected to undergo a season-ending UCL internal brace procedure on his right elbow on April 1. He is expected to be ready by Spring Training 2027.
After knocking out 11 homers and 15 doubles over 103 games last season for the White Sox, Baldwin didn’t play after March 6 after feeling something while throwing the baseball. He felt something along these lines during the ‘25 campaign, and enough progress wasn’t being made presently.
Meanwhile, the White Sox hope for a Hays return on the shorter side of his injury projection.
“He’ll get going right away with his rehab and the training staff has gone through this before,” Venable said. “Haysie is such a pro. He’s been through this stuff before. He knows what he has to do and he’ll put in all the work to make this as quick as possible.”