TORONTO — Brad Keller started Saturday for the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
Monday, the right-hander was designated for assignment.
The Sox made the move, along with reinstating reliever Dominic Leone from the 15-day injured list ahead of the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Keller had just been moved back into the rotation last week. He allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk in four-plus innings in the 6-1 loss to the New York Yankees. The Yankees hit four solo home runs against Keller — two by Juan Soto.
Keller is 0-2 with a 4.86 ERA and 13 strikeouts in five appearances (two starts) this season.
“Brad did a really nice job, he came in as an NRI (non-roster invitee in March), he threw the ball good, he ended up making our team after he went down and got himself built up,” manager Pedro Grifol said Monday afternoon. “He threw good for us out of the pen, we wanted to see him in the rotation. Saw him twice. And we wanted to go in a different direction.
“He has to go figure some things out. He has weapons to be good, the body to be durable. I’ve seen him really, really good. He’ll get an opportunity somewhere and he’ll figure this thing out and have a good career.”
Grifol said it hasn’t been determined who will step into the open rotation spot.
“(Michael) Soroka had a good appearance (Saturday), but I don’t know if he’s going to be the guy we want to do that,” he said.
Soroka had four scoreless innings and struck out seven in his first relief appearance of the season. He had previously been in the rotation.
Leone had been on the injured list since May 5 with lower back tightness. He is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA, three holds and 14 strikeouts in 17 relief appearances.
“I think we were more cautious than anything to just make sure it doesn’t spiral into anything crazy,” Leone told the Tribune. “Excited to be back and contribute again.”
