White Sox hitters set another home run record - NBC Sports Chicago

The injury bug has chomped down on the White Sox this season and has not let go.

The list of injured South Siders is a lengthy one, still, even after the returns of Tim Anderson and Nomar Mazara, who were on the injured list, and the end of Edwin Encarnación's day-to-day status.

General manager Rick Hahn provided the latest updates on a batch of injured White Sox on Monday, discussing when a banged-up foursome of Reynaldo López, Carlos Rodón, Nick Madrigal and Aaron Bummer — that's 40 percent of the team's starting rotation, its most important bullpen pitcher and its starting second baseman — could be back in action.

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López due back by end of August

López has only recorded two outs this season, pulled with a shoulder injury before the end of his first inning of work in his 2020 debut against the Minnesota Twins way back on the season's opening weekend. The next day, he went on the injured list, and he's been there ever since.

"Reynaldo, he's throwing (at the team's alternate training site) in Schaumburg, he's on his throwing program. He's competing in the games that we are staging out there, and he continues to progress," Hahn said Monday. "As I said initially with him, we were optimistic that he would return by the end of the month, and (we) continue to feel that way."

After Michael Kopech made the decision not to play this season due to personal reasons, the injury to López was the second major blow to the team's starting pitching, forcing the White Sox to draw on their much discussed depth in that department far earlier than they had hoped. Gio González has subbed into that spot in the rotation, and though he brings plenty of experience, he's struggled to provide much length, none of his outings lasting even five innings.

While López has plenty to prove beyond simply health after an inconsistent 2019 campaign, his return to the rotation would certainly be a plus as the White Sox have already blown through that depth just a third of the way through the season.

Rodón a tad behind López

Rodón suffered the same fate as López, lifted early with shoulder soreness from his second start of the season.

Rodón's injury deservedly caused some greater concern at first blush given his unfortunate history with arm injuries, including the Tommy John surgery he was just returning from this season.

While he might be behind López in this particular injury battle, per Hahn, Rodón is still very much a part of the White Sox starting-pitching plans in 2020.

"Rodón, he's probably a half click behind López, but he was (at Guaranteed Rate Field) yesterday, threw a sideline, had a good outing with that," Hahn said. "He is soon to enter his next stage of the throwing program, which will have him competing out at Schaumburg on a five-day schedule, too.

"I believe I also said I was optimistic about him returning by the end of the month. That remains a possibility, as well, but it may drift into the first week of September depending on how the throwing program goes."

Much like López returning, Rodón's re-insertion into the White Sox rotation would be a positive when it comes to providing pitching options. He'll be the first to tell you he has something to prove this season, too. But having all the arrows in the quiver at least gives the White Sox a greater ability to evaluate their pitching and to compete for a playoff spot.

RELATED: Rick Hahn indicates Dane Dunning likely to make White Sox debut Wednesday

Full baseball activities for Madrigal

Madrigal separated his shoulder while sliding into third base in just his fifth major league game, and fans might have had flashes of Kopech suffering a significant injury in the infancy of his big league career.

But Madrigal's injury seemingly could have been much worse, and Hahn suggested the team's newly promoted second baseman could be back before the end of August, a timeline he stuck to Monday.

"Nick’s resumed virtually all baseball activity," Hahn said. "He’s fielding ground balls, he hits in the cage. He will be joining Schaumburg soon on a daily basis to go through their workouts and game simulations, and (we) continue to believe he’ll be able to rejoin us by the end of this month."

With Madrigal not starting the season with the big league club and so many others affected by injuries, the White Sox, more than a third of the way through their season, have yet to have all the pieces of their envisioned 2020 lineup at their disposal at the same time.

Assuming no one else gets hurt — a pretty big assumption in 2020, when a new player seems to land on the injured list every couple of days; Adam Engel went there Monday — Madrigal's return will allow Renteria to finally write out the lineup he planned to back in spring training.

No timeline on Bummer

Much like with Madrigal, news of Bummer's injury being a biceps strain and not something worse was relatively positive. But as good as the bullpen has been for the White Sox this season, it will be significantly better once it gets its most important piece back.

Bummer has the ability to go multiple innings and pitch against left- or right-handed hitters in the highest leverage moments, making him perhaps the most effective weapon Renteria can call on late in games.

Though when it comes to when Bummer could return, Hahn didn't have the kind of estimate he had for the other three.

"Bummer, don’t have a specific time frame for you yet," he said. "Obviously, regardless of the player or injury, the first step is calming down and healing the injury, and the second step is building back up to game play. We are still on that first stage with Aaron in terms of calming down the biceps and the nerve. And after that is officially all behind him, then we will come up with a program.

"The good news is as a reliever, we don’t have to get him quite as stretched out as we would as a starter. His ramp up hopefully won’t take too long, but until we are in that second stage, I really don’t have a time frame for you."

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