SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Zach Thompson made his sixth Cactus League appearance Sunday, continuing a run of superb pitching out of the ‘pen. Thompson has allowed one run on three hits and two walks while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings for a 1.42 spring ERA.

“Here’s a guy with a tremendous angle, has a lot of action on his pitches, has attacked the strike zone, he’s only had a couple of games where the first hitter has gotten on by a walk or hit or something of that sort,” manager Rick Renteria said of the right-hander. “He’s been aggressive in the zone, showing you that he’s combating it, he’s confident, he gets after hitters, which is good.”

Thompson, 25, Chicago's No. 24 prospect per MLB Pipeline, dominated hitters at both Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham in 2018, making 43 appearances and posting a combined 6-1 record with a 1.55 ERA in his first full season as a reliever.

“He transitioned into the relief aspect of it last year, and we’re hoping that he’s building on what he did last year during the regular season,” Renteria said. “We’ll see how he continues to develop.”

Thompson would be a long shot to break camp with the White Sox to start the season, but starting at Triple-A Charlotte would be a logical step and leave him poised for a promotion.

Who’s on third?
In parts of three big league seasons for the Red Sox and White Sox, Yoán Moncada has played 203 games at second base and five at third. If all goes according to plan, those numbers will start tilting toward third this season for Moncada, who was the Opening Day second baseman for Chicago last spring.

“He’s actually played third base very, very well,” Renteria said. “We see an explosive third baseman. I see probably a guy that’s going to be one of the more athletic third basemen in the league. He’s already made some plays here this spring that I don’t think anyone else could make, both to his left and coming forward.”

Renteria also praised the switch-hitting Moncada for his improvement from the right side of the plate this spring. He is hitting .714 (5-for-7) against lefties and .250 (6-for-24) against right-handers, with a homer each way. Last season he hit .209 (31-for-148) with two homers against left-handers and .244 (105-for-437) with 15 homers against righties.

Rodon tires
Carlos Rodon has one more chance to end his spring on a high note. His 7-3 loss to the D-backs Sunday was considerably lower than he was aiming for.

Rodon allowed one hit through the first two innings, then gave up solo homers in the third and fourth and a run each in the fifth and sixth innings, each coming on his only walks of the day.

“I got my work in,” Rodon said. “Got up to [90] pitches. I was a little tired at the end, but I was glad I got up and down six times.”

Rodon threw another 15 pitches in the bullpen after leaving with one out in the sixth.

“It started off pretty good,” Rodon said. “Command was good, and then it faded away a little bit in the later innings. The first-pitch homer to [Alex] Avila was on a fastball away. It was a little up. And then the one to [Eduardo] Escobar after a slider was a two-seam that was over the middle. All in all, it wasn’t great.”

Rodon is a top contender to make the Opening Day start for the White Sox, and both he and Reynaldo Lopez are lined up to be on pace to pitch that day. Lopez is scheduled to pitch Monday, and Renteria has indicated that he’ll share “an estimated look, based on where we’re at” on Monday.

“I definitely wouldn’t mind it,” Rodon said. “I think anyone on the staff would like to take the ball that day.”

Hip to be sore
Right fielder Jon Jay has missed the past three games with a sore hip, according to Renteria.

“We’re hoping that [Monday] we’re going to get him a lot of at-bats on the Minor League side,” Renteria said. “We’re going to lead him off every inning and then transition him back into the lineup.”

Up next
The White Sox host the Giants Monday in a 3:05 p.m. CT game pitting Manny Banuelos against Derek Holland in a battle of left-handers. Outfield candidate Nicky Delmonico is expected to be in the lineup as a designated hitter, getting his first game action since March 7, when he crashed into an outfield fence and suffered a minor concussion.