White Sox Finally Welcome David Sandlin to the Mound in First Rehab Assignment

The Chicago White Sox finally got to see one of their key offseason acquisitions in action on the mound.

David Sandlin made his first rehab start of the year on Tuesday afternoon for the Winston-Salem Dash. Chicago's High-A affiliate, Sandlin took the mound against the Hub City Spartanburgers of the Texas Rangers. He pitched 2.0 innings of work, where he gave up only two hits and a walk while striking out four batters.

Speaking of which, Sandlin's start was about as hot as could be. The righty faced Paxton Kling in his first at-bat, sending him to the dugout with a swinging strikeout in a mere three pitches. He proceeded to record his second strikeout of the day five pitches later, again getting a batter swinging on a ball that just touched the outside of the plate.

The rust started to show itself from there, as Sandlin allowed back-to-back singles. He eventually walked the bases loaded on a pitch clock violation, setting up a huge at-bat with two outs on the board. To Sandlin's credit, he managed to get out of the inning in two more pitches.

While the command wasn't perfect, he stacked up plenty of swings and misses and still finished the assignment with 28 strikes on 41 total pitches. For a Sox team that had eyes on him coming to the majors as soon as this season, it appeared to be a promising first outing that should be worthy of a promotion.

So, why is Sandlin even on this rehab assignment? The former Red Sox pitcher was supposed to be part of the competition in spring training, only to arrive with some back issues. He was forced to sit out even longer once elbow soreness emerged, leaving him without a single appearance on the Arizona mound.

David Sandlin Starts Journey Toward Triple-A

While Jordan Hicks was the big man in the Chicago White Sox offseason deal with Boston, David Sandlin was the real target. A former Top 10 prospect in the Red Sox' system, Sandlin has a heater that can reach as high as triple digits. He also pairs this with a relatively deep arsenal of quality stuff. It's hard to get a read on whether he has a clearly elite secondary pitch, as he's switched up his go-to at times over the last couple of seasons.

If one thing is for sure, he struggled in his first stint at the Triple-A level last year. In his 15 outings with the Worcester Red Sox, he registered just a 7.61 ERA with 35 hits allowed. One has to imagine this was part of the reason why the Sox were willing to include him in the deal.

Nevertheless, there is certainly reason to believe that Sandlin can settle in and continue to find success as he moves up the ladder. He has a very sturdy and athletic build that allows for some good consistency in his delivery. And, as we saw in his first rehab assignment, command isn't necessarily the issue for Sandlin, even with the high velocity four-seamer. The righty is typically pretty good at limiting his walks and locating the strike zone.

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