SAN FRANCISCO — Rikuu Nishida has a knack for getting on base.
The infielder/outfielder will get a major-league opportunity.
The Chicago White Sox selected Nishida’s contract from Triple-A Charlotte on Monday and designated outfielder Jarred Kelenic for assignment.
Nishida, 25, was slashing .347/.454/.395 with three doubles, one home run, 10 RBIs, 33 runs and nine stolen bases in 33 games with the Knights. In 44 games overall this season between Double-A Birmingham and Charlotte, Nishida has a .323/.449/.384 slash line with seven doubles, 44 runs and 15 stolen bases.
The Sox selected Nishida, who is from Osaka, Japan, out of the University of Oregon in the 11th round of the 2023 draft. Ian Eskridge of FutureSox initially reported the news
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of the call-up, which a source confirmed to the Tribune on Sunday.Nishida has a .290/.410/.340 slash line with 242 runs and 110 stolen bases during 306 career games over parts of four minor-league seasons in the Sox system.
Sox director of player development Paul Janish discussed Nishida’s progress Saturday at Oracle Park.
“The way I would describe him is he’s one of the best baseball players that we have in our organization,” Janish said. “He is contagious in the best way. The players around him get better, the teams that he is on win.
“It’s really hard for me to express how much I think of Rikuu as a player. He’s one of those guys, he knows his skill set as well as anybody and he’s really good at executing it. The numbers speak for themselves. He’s playing really well at Charlotte at this point in time, he can play all three outfield positions, he can play second base at a high level defensively. And he’s really good at getting on base.”