White Sox: Yoan Moncada back in lineup, but Willy Garcia out 4-6 weeks

The White Sox will have Yoan Moncada return to the lineup tonight to face his former team, but Willy Garcia will be out for a while following the pair’s collision earlier this week.

The Chicago White Sox witnessed a brutal collision between two of their players during last Monday’s game, and the team received some mixed news today on the status of those players. Rookie second baseman Yoan Moncada, widely considered the top prospect in all of baseball, will be back in the lineup for tonight’s contest in Boston against his former club. However, outfielder Willy Garcia has a fractured right jaw and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

The 24-year-old Garcia, also a rookie, will have a plate inserted into his jaw after the fracture was discovered yesterday, per ESPN.com. The White Sox already had reason to believe they dodged a bullet with Moncada after his X-rays came back negative following the incident on Monday.

The outlook initially seemed much worse for Moncada, as the 22-year-old Cuban native was carted off the field after his knee hit Garcia’s head when both players attempted to catch a pop-up in shallow right field during the sixth inning of Monday’s clash with the Blue Jays.

Any collision between players is a scary occurrence for a team, but when the crown jewel of the farm system who has only recently been promoted is involved, it’s understandable that the White Sox and their fans would be particularly concerned.

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Chicago will breathe a sigh of relief when it sees Moncada at second base and batting fourth tonight, and it will hope to observe no lingering effects of the incident in the young phenom. Moncada has largely struggled since his call-up, but he’s only played in 12 games so far. He’s slashing .105/.261/.263 over 48 plate appearances and hit his first career home run on July 26 against the Cubs.

Garcia made his big league debut on April 14 and has appeared in 40 contests this season. He’s swung a fairly competent bat, posting a .258/.317/.441 slash line (103 OPS+) with two homers and 11 RBI in 105 plate appearances. The White Sox have deployed him rather evenly between all three outfield positions. They’ll miss his versatility, especially while Avisail Garcia is on the DL with a ligament strain in his right thumb.

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Though he ultimately played just eight games in a Red Sox uniform, Moncada’s return to Fenway Park should be an interesting storyline to watch tonight. He’ll always have a history with Boston, as he signed there out of Cuba for a record bonus, rose through the ranks of their farm system to become baseball’s top prospect, and eventually became the key trade chip to land them Chris Sale.