After missing the first two weeks of Cactus League play, Everson Pereira could return next week as he fights for a spot on the White Sox Opening Day roster.
It was two full weeks ago, right before the Cactus League opener against the Chicago Cubs, that the Chicago White Sox scratched outfielder Everson Pereira from the spring training lineup just an hour before first pitch.
The club reported tightness in Pereira’s right side at the time, and manager Will Venable called it a "precautionary" move when speaking with the media.
Pereira was deemed day-to-day. Nothing to be too concerned about.
Until those days became a week, and that week became two. Now here we sit nearly halfway through spring training, with less than three weeks until the White Sox head to Milwaukee for Opening Day, and we’ve still yet to see Pereira appear in a spring training game.
That’s not ideal for a player in the middle of a position battle, but especially not for someone like Pereira, who is on the 40-man roster without minor league options remaining. It also makes the White Sox’ position in all of this more complicated.
If this were a young prospect fighting to make the team, the White Sox could simply send Pereira down to begin the regular season and give him an opportunity to prove himself in Triple-A. If this were a more established veteran, the White Sox could place him on the injured list to begin the season and insert him into the lineup once he returns to full health.
Pereira is neither.
Instead, he is a soon-to-be 25-year-old outfielder with tremendous offensive upside but very little success at the big league level so far in his career. It’s an exciting offensive profile for the White Sox and director of hitting Ryan Fuller to work with.
But with every day that passes with Pereira not at full strength, the White Sox lose valuable time that could be spent developing a potential piece of the puzzle. Pereira also loses valuable ground in a tight position battle with other players who, like him, have limited roster flexibility.
The White Sox clearly plan to have Andrew Benintendi, Luisangel Acuña, and Austin Hays as regular starters for the 2026 season. They will be on the Opening Day roster.
I also have to think Brooks Baldwin will be in the mix. Even though he still has two minor league options remaining, Baldwin had a tremendous second half of the 2025 season and has carried that success into spring training. The White Sox value both his bat and his versatility.
That leaves Pereira battling someone like Derek Hill for what could be the final outfield roster spot.
Hill is a veteran with good speed and defense and no minor league options remaining. He’s also been solid during spring training so far. Can the White Sox justify cutting him loose and potentially losing him on waivers, all for Pereira, who has not played in a spring training game yet?
It all may come down to what happens next week, because at long last we have an update from the White Sox on Pereira’s status.
According to Scott Merkin of MLB.com, White Sox manager Will Venable said Thursday that the team is “looking next week to get [Pereira] out there if he continues to progress.”
Of course, that’s a pretty big “if” given how things have gone recently. But Pereira may still have enough time to get on the field, get healthy, find his timing, and prove to the White Sox that he belongs on the Opening Day roster.
However, if this drags on beyond the beginning of next week, it may be time for White Sox fans to prepare for Pereira to be elsewhere—whether that’s in the minor leagues or with a different organization—by Opening Day.