Toby Hall Better Watch His Back

Part time wrestler, and full time White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is a little concerned about losing out on playing time this season. The White Sox signed veteran catcher Toby Hall in the offseason in part to get A.J. some rest, and in hopes he could help the team against the tough left handed pitching that dominates the AL Central.

Pierzynski caught 132 of the Sox 162 games last season, and he's not thrilled at the prospect of playing less than that.

"The problem is, if you're going to do that, how many lefties are in our division?" Pierzynski asked calmly. "We face a lefty every other game, so does that mean I'm going to sit out every other game?"

Guillen maintained that Pierzynski remains his starting catcher and there won't be a platoon system with Hall, who batted .292 against lefties last season and is a lifetime .274 hitter vs. lefties.

"I'm not going to platoon A.J.," Guillen said. "In the meanwhile, [Hall] is going to push A.J. to get better. It's great for us to [have] somebody who we can really count on with day games [after night games], [against] lefties. We have a lot of tough lefties in our division. And [Hall] will ... play a lot of games.

"But in the meantime, I'm not going to take the bat away from A.J. When we feel Toby is going to play, he will. It's not easy to catch once a month. We've got to give him some at-bats and find a way to figure how to play him."

Pierzynski finished 2006 with a .270 average against lefties, but struggled against them after the All-Star break, batting only .236. Though he doesn't want to lose the playing time, he's also resigned to the fact he doesn't have much say in the matter.