Carlos Rodon's second spring start a good one

Carlos Rodon

Here's something encouraging: White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon was sharp in his second Cactus League start.

The left-hander tossed four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit Thursday in a 9-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Rodon struck out three and walked one.

Dylan Covey also is making his case for a roster spot -- as a reliever, thankfully, not a starter. I've long thought Covey was miscast as a starting pitcher. I think he can help a team as a swingman, the 11th or 12th man on a pitching staff.

On Thursday, Covey relieved in the eighth inning and pitched the rest of the game, retiring all six Brewers he faced. Granted, none of this was against an "A" lineup, but I'm in favor of guys throwing strikes and getting outs, no matter the situation.

Rodon and Covey have been exceptions to the rule for Sox pitchers this spring. We've seen some inflated offensive numbers and some ugly Arizona box scores.

Let's look at the ERAs for Sox pitchers. For purposes of this exercise, we'll limit it to guys who are candidates for roster spots:

Alex Colome: 0.00
Covey: 0.00
Ryan Burr: 1.59
Ivan Nova: 3.38
Rodon: 3.86
Nate Jones: 6.75
Lucas Giolito: 7.71
Manny Banuelos: 8.10
Jace Fry: 9.00
Carson Fulmer: 9.00
Thyago Vieira: 9.82
Reynaldo Lopez: 10.13
Randall Delgado: 10.80
Caleb Frare: 13.50
Aaron Bummer: 17.18
Juan Minaya: 22.09
Kelvin Herrera: 27.00
Ian Hamilton: 36.00

Funny thing is, Hamilton got the win Thursday. He entered in the top of the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead and gave up four runs. The Sox answered with four in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead, highlighted by a 3-run homer by Danny Mendick.

Covey did the rest, and all of a sudden, Hamilton was a winner. In fairness to Hamilton, it was his first game action of the spring after he was in a minor car crash, so we'll give him a pass.

But looking at that list, there's nobody on the bubble who is stepping up to claim a job -- except for Covey.