Oscar Colás was in shock when he realized he can be representing the Chicago White Sox on the All-Star Futures Game.
“I was like ‘What?’ I honestly couldn’t believe it,” Colás mentioned by way of an interpreter Wednesday afternoon throughout a Zoom interview. “It was a nice moment.”
The outfielder will take part within the occasion, which highlights among the high prospects in baseball, Saturday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Major League Baseball — along with MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and the 30 major-league groups — chosen the gamers.
“It means a lot,” Colás mentioned. “It’s a big step for my career. Just being (recently) promoted from (Class A) Winston-Salem to (Double-A) Birmingham, it’s a good opportunity.”
Colás has had success in his first season within the group.
The Sox and Colás got here to phrases on a $2.7 million deal introduced in January in the course of the worldwide signing interval. He was ranked the No. 5 worldwide prospect for 2021 and is the No. 2 prospect within the Sox group, in accordance with MLB.com.
The 23-year outdated from Cuba summed up his first few months by saying he was “surprised because all the results have been very good. I wasn’t expecting them to be as good as fast as it has been because I knew this was a process. But I’m definitely happy with the results and the adjustments I’ve made, and I plan to keep moving forward and get the results and development I’m hoping for.”
Colás slashed .311/.369/.475 with seven house runs and 42 RBIs in 59 video games with Winston-Salem. He was promoted to Birmingham on Tuesday and went 4-for-9 with two doubles in his first two video games.
His earlier expertise included taking part in within the Serie Nacional, Cuba’s high league, from 2016-20; the Japan Western League from 2017-19; and the Japan Pacific League in 2019.
“The biggest adjustment for me is how I was able to feel comfortable with a little bit of mechanics,” Colás mentioned. “I used to have a leg kick after I was swinging after which by the tip of spring coaching, we made changes simply to not try this and simply hold my foot on the bottom, simply to have the ability to cut back the strikeouts and have extra contact with the ball.
“And it was a fairly easy adjustment, and the results were there right away. I was surprised because I was doing that since I was in Cuba and in Japan. I got good results but now not doing that I see I have better results and I’m able to see the ball better and that’s a surprise because I never thought that would be something I would feel comfortable with.”
Asked why the transition from Cuba has been clean, he mentioned adjusting general “hasn’t been that straightforward, particularly off the sphere. But on the sphere, the important thing has been simply being myself. I’m the form of man that I don’t attempt to be anyone else. I simply attempt to be myself and do what I do know that I can do on the sphere.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself. I know what I can do. I don’t try to do more than what I can do. … It’s just trusting myself and believing in the things I can do.”
That has put him in place to go to Los Angeles for the Futures Game. He’s trying ahead to sharing as a lot of expertise as he can along with his household.
“(I’ll) probably just to go there and call my family in Cuba and show them everything about the All-Star Game and everything around the festivities there,” Colás mentioned. “When I used to be in Cuba, I wasn’t actually desirous about it. I by no means considered being an All-Star and being in an All-Star Game or something like that as a result of we didn’t have that data.
“Now that I’m going to be there and I’m going to be surrounded by some of the best players and prospects in the league, it’s something that, wow, I want to share with my family. … Hopefully just share that moment with them. It won’t be in person but I’m going to do all that I can just to show them how that is.”
Eloy Jiménez (proper leg) might play this weekend
Sox left fielder Eloy Jiménez was not within the beginning lineup Thursday for the sequence opener in opposition to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field after leaving Wednesday’s street recreation in opposition to the Cleveland Guardians with tightness in his proper leg.
But supervisor Tony La Russa mentioned, “The scan went reasonable.”
Jiménez hobbled after making a working catch in left-center for the ultimate out of the sixth inning at Progressive Field. La Russa didn’t rule out Jiménez taking part in in some unspecified time in the future this weekend.
“See what it feels like in the next couple days, be careful with him,” La Russa mentioned. “And (there is a) chance he might play this weekend. The scan didn’t show anything drastic happening.”
Jiménez was on the injured record from April 24 to July 6 after struggling a torn hamstring tendon behind his proper knee working to first in opposition to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. His rehab task with Triple-A Charlotte hit a short pause for what the crew known as “normal leg soreness.”
“He actually felt something like this during his rehab in Charlotte,” La Russa mentioned. “Rested a little bit and came back OK. That’s what we’re counting on.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com