Yoán Moncada made a splash in the season-opening series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
He had two three-hit games, homered twice and drove in four while helping the Chicago White Sox split the four games.
After being sidelined for more than a month with lower back soreness, the third baseman returned from the injured list Friday as the Sox opened a three-game series against the Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“I feel much better,” Moncada said through an interpreter Friday afternoon. “For now on I just have to keep getting treatment and doing my exercises to feel as good as I can.”
. The Sox also optioned infielder Lenyn Sosa to Triple-A Charlotte and outrighted reliever Alexander Colomé to Charlotte.
Moncada entered Friday with a .308/.325/.564 slash line with four doubles, two home runs, five RBIs and four runs in nine games. He last played April 9 at Pittsburgh.
“(He’s an) extremely talented player on both sides of the ball,” manager Pedro Grifol said before Friday’s game. “He’s got a really good swing, patient approach. He’s shown seasons of 84 walks, and he’s shown seasons of 34 walks. So we’ve just got to make sure he’s that guy we know he can be and he’s that guy that goes up there and he’s patient and waits for his pitches in the zone and does some damage.”
Moncada went on the IL on April 11. He started seeing positive signs just before his rehab assignment with Charlotte on May 5.
“That was why I said, ‘OK, let’s test it in Charlotte and see how it goes,’” Moncada said. “(Hitting) from the left side, pretty normal, from the right side, it’s not as normal, but I feel good. It’s just something I have to deal with and getting my treatment and all my exercises daily will help.”
Moncada went 8-for-14 (.571) with two home runs, four RBIs, four walks and five runs during the five-game rehab assignment with the Knights.
“He had a nice, lengthy rehab, and he played good, felt good,” Grifol said. “I’m expecting the same guy back because we didn’t rush that process. He went down and got 14 at-bats. He says he feels good, so glad to have him back.”
Moncada liked how things were unfolding before the setback.
“Once the injury happened I started getting concerned about my back, about how I was feeling and then that was difficult to deal with,” he said.
Now that he’s back, Moncada said he won’t be thinking about the back.
“I just want to go out there and play to what I know that I can do and help this team,” Moncada said. “If I start thinking about my back, I won’t be able to do the things that I know l can do.”
Grifol said they’ll go day by day while implementing Moncada early on.
“We’ve got to go on his symptoms and … how he feels,” Grifol said. “It’s a back (injury). So it could be great for some time and it could get cranky. We’ll play it by ear.”
Adding Moncada could provide a boost to the struggling Sox, who entered Friday at 13-26.
“I think it’s not a secret that we haven’t been playing at the level that we all know we can do it, for many reasons,” Moncada said. “One of those factors is injuries, but it’s not an excuse. Everybody wants to do their best. We are all going to come together and start playing better.
“It’s something we have to do on a daily basis — just go out there and do our best and there’s plenty of season to play and hopefully we’re going to be able to turn this around.”
()