Barring a unforeseen acquisition the Chicago White Sox will enter the 2014 season with Rule 5 pick Adrian Nieto as their backup catcher.
Nieto will become just the second catcher ever to make the leap from Class-A to the majors. The 24-year-old was acquired in the Rule 5 draft from Washington.
In nine spring games thus far Nieto has had 13 at-bats and was hitting .231/.333/.231. He will be kept on the big league roster over Josh Phegley who had appeared in 12 games this spring and hit .261/.261/.565.
Nieto had made a late surge at the plate this spring and had he not made the roster the White Sox would have had to return him to Washington. Both obviously worked in his favor here.
There are certainly bigger problems with the White Sox than a Rule 5 pick as their backup catcher. Expect Phegley to return to the majors before too long.
The White Sox also reassigned infielder Andy Wilkins and pitchers Chris Beck, Cody Winiarski, Andre Rienzo and LHP Eric Surkamp.
