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KANSAS CITY -- Avisail Garcia had recently begun to put things together at the plate and felt more at ease in the outfield. So it should be no surprise Garcia was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday given how things have recently gone for the White Sox.

Garcia became the latest White Sox player to suffer a freak injury when he sprained his right knee stretching in pregame on Saturday. The DL stint is retroactive to Sunday for Garcia, who was hitting .292/.346/.792 with three home runs in his last 26 plate appearances.

“Every time I start hitting again, something happens,” Garcia said. “Something happens. Same, same, same. Was doing better, I feel really good, I hurt my hamstring for seven or eight days something like that and now again. I got more playing time in the outfield and now my knee. That’s something I don’t want to but you have to deal with it, it’s part of this game. You can be mad right. You can be mad later, the hurt is going to be there.”

[SHOP: Gear up, White Sox fans!]

The disbelief is there for Robin Ventura.

The strange injuries have continued to pile up for the fifth-year manager. Matt Davidson was promoted on June 30 and the White Sox were prepared to give him a shot to succeed only to have him break his foot. Same happened last week when Charlie Tilson tore his hamstring and was out for the season.

With Tilson out, the White Sox planned to give Garcia another extended look. This time, he hit the ball with more authority than he had all season and looked like he did in spring training. Garcia, who had an MRI conducted on Sunday, hopes he’ll be able to come off the DL at the 15-day mark.

“Very bad timing,” Ventura said. “The way he started to swing the bat, and what he was showing, he was going to get an extended run to see what he could do out there.

 “It’s unfortunate for them on the path of their career.”

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The injury bug has bitten the White Sox once again.

The White Sox announced on Tuesday they have placed outfielder Avisail Garcia on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right knee and recalled outfielder Jason Coats from Triple-A Charlotte.

The 25-year-old Garcia has a .240/.309/.378 slash line with nine home runs and 36 RBI in 86 games this season.

[SHOP: Gear up, White Sox fans!]

Coats, 26, has a .091/.286/.136 slash line with one double and two runs in 12 games with the White Sox this season. Coats was batting .329 with eight home runs and 29 RBI in 65 games with Charlotte in 2016.

The White Sox begin a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium Tuesday evening.

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Is this what Avisail Garcia turning the corner looks like?

Garcia, not two months removed from his 25th birthday, has had fans in both Detroit and Chicago waiting for his emergence for some time now. And while a recent hot spurt could be just that, the White Sox are happy to see a guy that could still be a big part of their future plans finally put together a nice hot streak.

“I'm just glad to see it. I think he should go that way, too,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said ahead of Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. “It's easy to sit there and look back and look at it negatively if you want to. I'm glad to see it and I know he's glad to be doing it. That's just what you continue with.”

In his last 12 games, Garcia posted a .310/.400/.793 slash line with four homers and six RBIs to go along with four walks and seven runs scored.

It’s quite possible this could only be a flash in the pan, but Ventura has confidence, enough that he’s moved Adam Eaton back to center field to fit Garcia into the lineup on a daily basis. Eaton has played Gold Glove defense in right field this season, but the move was made anyway to fit Garcia — as well as designated hitter Justin Morneau — into the batting order.

Ventura sees a difference in Garcia of late as opposed to the rest of season. Prior to this stretch, Garcia was hitting just .230 on the campaign with an on-base percentage under .300 and only five home runs. Garcia’s raised his batting average eight points in his last 12 games and almost doubled his home run total from his previous 72 games.

“It's different right now, just him elevating the ball and hitting it as hard as he is, it's different,” Ventura said. “I think that's the part you hold on to and you see, which gives a guy like him chance after chance to be able to find it. You realize he's young and you're hoping to find that.”

Certainly there’s reason to believe that what Garcia has shown in his time since being acquired from the Tigers in 2013 isn’t the finished product. He’s only 25 years old, after all.

But still, the pressure has been there, and the patience of many fans and observers has run out. He’s hit just .257/.311/.386 with 34 home runs in parts of four seasons with the White Sox, 320 games and 1,272 plate appearances.

Ventura was asked if he had to talk with Garcia.

“No. He sensed a lot,” Ventura said. “I think that's part of every player gets to a point where they don't have to overthink it as much and he got there. He got there probably within the last 10 days, and you can see a difference in him. The guys get to a point where they've had enough, and they just go out and play and it's not about worrying about expectations or what's heaped upon you by everybody else. It's just you get to a point where you're going to play, and I know that's what he's doing.”

So this might be the moment people look back on Garcia and say, “That’s when everything clicked for him.” Or it could be a teasing hot stretch. Only time will tell which.