Injuries have thinned the White Sox outfield just 10 games into the season, opening the door for Dustin Harris to make his case.
With outfielder Austin Hays landing on the injured list after exiting Monday night’s game with a hamstring injury, the Chicago White Sox needed to call someone up to replace him.
Outfield was already a position of weakness for the White Sox coming into the 2026 season, but things have only gotten more dire as the group has been depleted by injuries just 10 games in. Brooks Baldwin, Everson Pereira, and now Hays are all on the IL. And unfortunately, the more obvious candidates to be called up haven’t performed well enough to make this an easy decision.
LaMonte Wade Jr. is just 2-for-25 at the plate without an extra-base hit. He’s also the weakest defender among the current Triple-A options and has been spending a good amount of time at first base. Jarred Kelenic just picked up his first hit of the season on Sunday and now sits at 1-for-22 with a .120 on-base percentage.
There will undoubtedly be some White Sox fans advocating for Sam Antonacci to get the call now that he’s been getting reps in the outfield. But I believe Antonacci needs more time to develop in Triple-A, both as a hitter and as an outfielder.
He’ll make his debut at some point in 2026, but he has just 56 games of experience above High-A and only seven games at the Triple-A level. I’d give him a few more months before calling his number, if for no other reason than once Antonacci is up, you’d like him to stay put as a regular in the big league lineup. And it may not be long before one of these outfielders returns from the injured list.
So if not Wade, Kelenic, or Antonacci, then who?
While I had advocated for Dru Baker, who is a strong defender and has been swinging a hot bat to open 2026, the White Sox instead selected the contract of outfielder Dustin Harris on Tuesday morning as Hays was placed on the 10-day injured list.
The White Sox needed a spot on the 40-man roster and transferred right-handed pitcher Mike Vasil to the 60-day injured list to clear it. Now Harris, who signed a minor league deal with the team in December, will get his shot in Chicago.
Dustin Harris made his MLB debut with the Texas Rangers on September 28, 2024. He appeared in just two games that season and hit his first MLB home run the following day. In 2025, he played in 19 games for Texas and currently holds a career .715 OPS across 50 plate appearances.
Harris earned his opportunity in Texas last year with a strong Triple-A season, and he followed that up with an impressive spring training for the White Sox, going 9-for-18 in 11 Cactus League games.
This will more than likely be a short stint in the big leagues for Harris until a White Sox outfielder returns from the IL. But this is still a group of largely unproven players, and opportunities will be merit-based. If Harris gets some at-bats over the next week or so and produces, the White Sox could opt to give him an extended look and send a different outfielder down when the time comes.
Sometimes all it takes is one opportunity for a player to break through. That’s what Dustin Harris has in front of him now with the White Sox.