CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox activated Austin Slater from the 10-day injured list on Monday after the outfielder made a speedy recovery from a knee injury.
Slater, 32, started in left field for Chicago's 5-1 loss to Seattle in the opener of a three-game series. He went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts, coming up empty when he batted with a runner on third and one out in the second inning.
To make room for Slater on the 26-man roster, infielder/outfielder Brooks Baldwin was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Slater had surgery on April 15 to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee. He batted .385 (5 for 13) over four games in a rehab assignment with Charlotte.
“So imaging showed I had a slight tear,” Slater said before the loss to the Mariners. "So I went under and had surgery and that was almost five weeks ago. So way faster than I thought. I think when I initially hurt it, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my season.’ That was my initial reaction, so pleasantly surprised by the recovery time I would say.”
Slater is batting .227 (5 for 22) with a homer in nine games with Chicago. He agreed to a $1.75 million, one-year contract with the White Sox in November.
“Anytime you miss an extended period, you know, and watching the guys, you just want to get back out there to help any way you can,” Slater said. “So that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot.”
Baldwin, a 12th-round pick in the 2022 amateur draft, made his big league debut last year. He is batting .215 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 44 games with the White Sox this season.
“With some of these guys coming back and getting healthy, it’s going to be a little less playing time,” manager Will Venable said. “And he’s at a point in his career where he really needs to play. And we want to expose him to center field a little bit more, some more opportunity on the dirt. We just think really highly of him and want to give him a chance to have everyday at-bats.”
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Jay Cohen, The Associated Press