White Sox Call Up Gordon Beckham

Last night the White Sox faced a rookie starting pitcher for the seventh time this season, and lost 5-3 to run their record in those games down to 1-6 on the season. So clearly the Sox have trouble dealing with rookies and need to figure out how to do something about it.

The only logical solution?

Call up your own rookie.

On Wednesday night the White Sox designated Wilson Betemit for assignment and purchased the contract of Gordon Beckham.

The Chicago White Sox have announced that prior to tomorrow’s game vs. the Oakland A’s they will purchase the contract of infielder Gordon Beckham from Class AAA Charlotte and designate infielder Wilson Betemit for assignment.

Beckham, 22, was the White Sox first-round selection (No. 8 overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Georgia. He will reach the major leagues just 364 days after being drafted on June 5, 2008.

May Wilson Betemit be the first casualty of Beckham's Hall of Fame career. The second casualty? Possibly you, Josh Fields.

I have no idea what Ozzie's plans are for using Beckham in the field, he's been playing third down in Charlotte but Ozzie may still use him at second base some days, maybe even short. The only thing we do know is that he's going to be playing.

You don't bring a player up this quickly to have him sit on the bench. Beckham's near-year long wait to reach the bigs is the quickest of any White Sox draft pick since Alex Fernandez had to hold his breath for a whopping 58 days in 1990.

Personally I prefer that Ozzie pick one position for Beckham and leave him there. The kid has a ton of talent and he killed the ball during the spring, and I have a feeling he's going to hit here in Chicago as well.

But I'd rather he only had to worry about playing one position at the moment. So if it's third, it's third. Josh has been swinging the bat a little better lately, but if the Sox go in the tank over the next few weeks, it won't be because Fields lost playing time.

So even if Beckham's only played six games at third all season I'm sure he'll pick it up rather quickly. Besides, it's not like he has a lot to live up to replacing Field with the glove.

But enough about Josh Fields.

Beckham hit .326 with 23 doubles, four home runs and 25 RBI in 45 games between Birmingham and Charlotte, and while I don't know if he's going to hit .326 here I don't know that he won't either.

The kid has a very nice swing and approach at the plate from what I've seen of him at Georgia and this spring. He's going to hit, which will in turn help the Sox offense, which will then in turn help the pitching staff.

I'm not saying World Series here we come, I'll leave that to Hawk and his "this reminds me of 2005" stuff. On this date in 2005 the Sox were 18 games over .5oo and had the best record in baseball. In 2009 this team is two games under .500 and needs help.

Beckham will be just that.