The White Sox announced that outfielder Austin Slater has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a meniscus tear in his right knee. The IL placement is retroactive to April 11. Outfielder Greg Jones was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
With Andrew Benintendi (groin strain) and Mike Tauchman (hamstring strain) already on the IL, Chicago’s outfield has now been further reduced by Slater’s injury, which looks to be significantly longer term in nature depending on the severity of the tear. The best-case scenario could see Slater back on the field in a few weeks’ time, while he might be shelved for a couple of months if surgery is required. Manager Will Venable told SoxMachine’s JamesFegan and other reporters that the team doesn’t have a timeline yet for Slater.
This is actually the second injury Slater has suffered during his brief tenure with the White Sox, after an oblique issue cost him a couple of weeks during Spring Training. Slater signed a one-year contract worth $1.75MM in guaranteed money back in November, as the Sox aimed to use the right-handed hitting Slater in a platoon capacity in one or both of the corner outfield positions. Now, all of Chicago’s planned corner outfield candidates are on the IL, leaving Michael A. Taylor, Brooks Baldwin, Joshua Palacios, and now Jones as the makeshift group flanking center fielder Luis Robert Jr.
Slater posted solid to very good numbers as a part-timer with San Francisco from 2020-23, but his production cratered badly last year, as he slashed just .209/.321/.266 over 212 combined plate appearances with the Giants, Reds, and Orioles. He has actually logged more big league innings as a center fielder than he has in left or right field, though defensive metrics indicate that Slater is much better suited to corner outfield work.