March 17, 2025 4:29 PM : Benintendi (hand) took live batting practice Monday, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "I feel a lot better than I anticipated," Benintendi said after Monday's workout. "Things kind of progressed better than we thought. The bone itself is healed. At this point it's just pain tolerance."
Analysis: Benintendi faced pitching for the first time since Feb. 27, when he suffered a non-displaced fracture of the bone on beneath the pinky knuckle on his right hand after Guardians lefty Logan Allen struck him with a pitch. The 30-year-old said that he had been hitting for four or five days before testing himself in a live session Monday, and if he experiences no unexpected pain coming out of the workout, he could be cleared to rejoin the White Sox's Cactus League lineup as a designated hitter Wednesday against the Brewers. At the time he suffered the injury, Benintendi faced an estimated recovery timeline of 4-to-6 weeks, but he sounds like he'll push to be ready for the March 27 season opener against the Angels, even if the fractured bone hasn't fully healed by then.