Tommy Pham entered Wednesday without a hit in the majors this season. Somehow, that didn’t stop the Chicago White Sox from putting him in the cleanup spot for their most important game of the year against the Cleveland Guardians.
But Pham may not have even been in the lineup, let alone hitting in the fourth, if he had taken the stairs the night before.
Pham had been nursing a calf injury before the White Sox reinstated him from the 10-day injured list ahead of Wednesday’s game. According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, the 38-year-old veteran happened to run into White Sox general manager Chris Getz in an elevator Tuesday night and told him he was ready to play. Getz told Rogers that if he hadn’t crossed paths with Pham, the veteran likely wouldn’t have been activated until this weekend.
Pham ran the bases Wednesday morning under the watchful eye of the training staff before being activated and inserted into the lineup just an hour later.
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Pham was acquired by the White Sox in late August from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for cash considerations. He brings plenty of postseason experience and boosts a solid resume over his 13-year career, hitting .256 with a .749 OPS. But more importantly for the White Sox, he is a right-handed bat in a lineup dominated by left-handers.
White Sox manager Will Venable previously told MLB.com that he planned to use Pham primarily against left-handed pitching. With Cleveland handing the ball to left-hander Parker Messick on Wednesday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get Pham back into the lineup.
But Venable didn’t just put Pham in the lineup. He essentially replaced struggling first baseman Munetaka Murakami, who has posted a .436 OPS in September, while moving Pham directly into the cleanup spot.
Pham played 70 games for the White Sox in 2024 before being traded in a three-team deal involving the Dodgers and Cardinals that sent Miguel Vargas to Chicago and Pham and Erick Fedde to St. Louis.
While Wednesday’s matchup against Messick is exactly the type of game the White Sox acquired Pham for, whether the move translates into wins remains to be seen. Pham hasn’t shown a significant split between right- and left-handed pitching. For his career, Pham has hit .254 with a .752 OPS against right-handers, compared with a .259 average and .796 OPS against lefties.
