MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Bristol White Sox open season Tuesday night

BRISTOL, Va. — Just a day before his professional debut, Bristol White Sox outfielder Jordan Kendall oozed with eagerness and anticipation.

“I’m pretty anxious,” Kendall admitted.

Perhaps no player was more excited than Kendall on Monday night as the BriSox hosted the annual “Meet the Sox” night at DeVault Stadium. The team opens the season tonight at home against Appalachian League rival Johnson City. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

For Kendall, it will mark the end of a long wait.

An 11th-round pick by the Chicago White Sox in last June’s MLB Amateur Draft out of California’s Contra Costa College, Kendall was assigned to the Great Falls White Sox of the Pioneer League.
However, a fractured finger on his right hand forced Kendall to miss the entire season.

“It was very difficult having to watch my teammates play,” Kendall said. “They lost in the 16th inning of the [Pioneer League] championship game. I always asked, what could have been if I would have played.”

Kendall certainly has the credentials. A native of Oakland, Calif., Kendall was a baseball and football star in high school, before attending Contra Costa.

One of his college coaches was former major league star Willie McGee.
“[McGee] and coach Marvin Webb just taught me how to play hard and to just stay focused,” Kendall said. “They always told me don’t let anything distract you.”

The scouting report on Kendall usually centers around his speed.

“The thing is, he’s got all the talent in the world,” Bristol manager Bobby Thigpen said. “It’s going to be up to him whether he wants to produce, perform and do the things he needs to do to better himself and move on … We’re kind of challenging him to step up and show us. He’s a great athlete and might be the best athlete on the team.”

The Bristol lineup appears to be much better than it was a year ago, when the team went 25-43 and finished fourth in the Appy League’s West Division.
Hancer Vargas leads the list of returnees after he hit .255 with 10 RBIs last summer. Thigpen said Vargas has matured in his second season as a professional.

Meanwhile, Jedon Matthews and Kenneth Gilbert are hitting holdovers from last season’s squad.

“We have a lot of speed on the team this year,” Bristol hitting coach Jerry Hairston Sr. said. “We’ve got some guys that can flat out fly. You’re going to see a lot of excitement and I think the fans are really going to enjoy this team … I am really excited. I know every coach always says that, but you’re going to see some excitement.”

Bristol’s pitching staff should also be improved.

Rehabbing right-hander Lucas Harrell will get the start tonight, but will be on a limited pitch count as he recovers from a shoulder injury. Gregory Infante, who was 2-3 with a 4.01 ERA in 10 outings last year for the BriSox, will follow Harrell.

Po-Yu Lin, Onarkys Paniagua and Garrett Johnson are also among the pitchers back for another summer in Bristol.

Right-handed pitcher Justin Kuehn is currently the highest draft pick on the team. Kuehn was selected in the 19th round out of Santa Clara University.

“We’re going to be better from the get-go from a pitching standpoint,” Thigpen said. “For some reason at extended spring [training] this year, we didn’t have as many guys as we had last year. A lot of guys in extended got called up to other clubs for injuries or what not.
“Our guys are stretched out more this year than last year. What I mean by that, is we showed up last year and our starters were only able to go 3-4 innings with a pitch count. They are stretched out longer now and we have guys that are ready to go 5-6 innings.”

thayes@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2570