The Chicago White Sox and injured players, a tradition unlike any other. Following Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros, the White Sox have another player going on the injured list.

This time it is veteran middle infield Elvis Andrus. The 34-year-old strained his left oblique after reaching for a slider off the plate against right-handed relief pitcher Bryan Abreu in the eighth inning in the series opener. You could tell right away that something was wrong with Andrus, as he slowed down running to first and was then slow to come off the field, holding his side. He was looked at in the dugout and was taken out of the game.

Here’s the play where Andrus suffered the injury.

Prior to Saturday’s middle game of the series against the Astros, the White Sox placed Andrus on the 10-day injured list with the strained oblique. The team has activated right-handed hitter Romy Gonzalez off the injured list to replace Andrus on the 26-man roster.

I mean, the difference on offense won’t be much, as Andrus has only slashed .201/.280/.254, in 39 games this season, but he at least was still playing solid defense at second and was great filling in at shortstop when Tim Anderson went down with his knee injury in April.

As for Gonzalez, the 26-year-old has been awful this year, going 5-for-36 at the plate with 14 strikeouts and no walks. Last year, the utility man only posted a .609 OPS in 109 plate appearances. Just brutal times for the White Sox, who simply do not have any quality minor league depth to turn to. Not that the established players on the big league roster are doing much anyway so far this season, aside from a couple of standouts.

The White Sox enter Saturday’s game with a 13-27 record. If they lose tonight, the White Sox will reach a new season-high, 15 games under the .500 mark.

2023 White Sox Injuries

Here are the main White Sox players who have already been on the injured list so far in 2023.

Eloy Jimenez:
10-day injured list – Hamstring – April 5. Returned April 14.
10-day injured list – Appendectomy – May 6. Out 4-6 weeks.

Jake Burger:
10-day injured list – Oblique Strain – May 3.

Yoan Moncada:
10-day injured list – Back – April 10. Returned May 12.

Tim Anderson:
10-day injured list – Knee – April 10. Returned May 2.

Veteran catcher Yasmani Grandal has also been dealing with back spasms and earlier this week he left the series finale against the Kansas City Royals with a hamstring injury.