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CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox third baseman Orlando Hudson will make his first start for his new club against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

Hudson arrived to the team Tuesday after being released by the San Diego Padres last week and made his White Sox’s debut in the eighth inning when he replaced Eduardo Escobar at third base. It was Hudson’s first game at third base in the majors. He has played 1,268 games at second base.

Hudson was hit one groundball Tuesday and delivered a high throw to first baseman Paul Konerko, who was able to reach for the ball and record the out. Hudson also singled in his lone at-bat and scored for the White Sox.

Chris Sale (4-2, 2.91) will start for the White Sox and will be countered by Twins pitcher Scott Diamond (3-0, 1.40). Here’s a look at the White Sox’s entire lineup:

1. Alejandro De Aza – CF

2. Gordon Beckham – 2B

3. Adam Dunn – DH

4. Paul Konerko – 1B

5. Alex Rios – RF

6. A.J. Pierzynski – C

7. Dayan Viciedo – LF

8. Alexei Ramirez – SS

9. Orlando Hudson – 3B

CHICAGO – Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel said Wednesday his back injury wasn’t as serious as first thought and he hoped to return to the team in the next few weeks.

Morel was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday retroactive to May 18 due to a lumbar back strain. He had his back examined again on Tuesday.

“A little encouraging news (Tuesday) when they looked,” Morel said prior to Wednesday’s game with the Minnesota Twins. “The bulging disc and stuff usually tends to have a lot of radiating pain down the leg, and it’s more hurting if I like try to touch my toes or something. That’s when it kind of comes into play.

“It’s like really good news. They were really happy to find that out. It’s never operated on. It could be controlled really easily in the training room and just like calming it down.”

Morel began feeling back pain during spring training and has been dealing with it ever since. He took a cortisone shot May 10, and his back started hurting again late last week. He is hitting .177 with five RBIs and has a .932 field percentage in 35 games this season.

“The bottom line is I wasn’t helping the team win,” Morel said. “I was trying to play through it, trying to do stuff, but I wasn’t having any result. Now take this time to get it fixed and hopefully it works out better.”

Morel thought he would begin new stretching exercises on Thursday, would start hitting and fielding again in 4-5 days and finally play in a few rehab minor league games before returning to the team.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura, a former third baseman, wasn’t concerned about Morel’s recovery after receiving the latest news on his back.

“I think a lot of it has been blown out of proportion,” Ventura said. “Every third baseman has back problems. I had them. You learn to deal with them and take care of it. I think if it was something that was structural that would be different. What it is now just kind of sounds more like what guys through normally playing third base.”

Morel was pleased to have a manager who understood his situation.

“He’s someone I can talk to,” Morel said of Ventura. “He’s been through it. He had a slow start. He’s had back problems and stuff like that. It’s always nice to have that resource. He kind of knows what I’m going through.”

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox placed third baseman Brent Morel on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday and signed infielder Orlando Hudson to a one-year contract.

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STREAKING

1. Dayan Viciedo, LF: The hottest hitter in the lineup was benched on Friday due to Adam Dunn playing left field during interleague play. Viciedo has finally started to use the entire field in his hitting approach. He was 12 for 27 last week with four home runs and 10 RBIs. Hitting coach Jeff Manto has worked with him on keeping his head on the ball and not pulling off too early. One scout told me last week that Viciedo could be the next big-time home run champion when gets it all figured out.

2. Addison Reed, Closer: The newest White Sox closer is coming off his best and highest profile week of the season. Reed was supposed to be the closer coming out of spring training only to see Hector Santiago given the role. After Santiago and Matt Thornton failed to keep the job, manager Robin Ventura handed the ball to Reed, who consistently hits 98 mph on the radar gun. Reed had three saves and did not allow a run last week. The Sox appear to have found their closer for now.

SLUMPING

1. Alex Rios, RF: He continues his up and down habits that have had him on both the Streaking and Slumping list from week to week. Rios dropped an easy fly ball during the Cub series, allowing a brief ninth-inning rally to get going. Rios was 5 for 22 with with one RBI last week. He is still batting .272 with a home run and 15 RBIs this season. The Sox will stay with Rios knowing he will break out of it at some point.

2. Brent Morel, 3B: The young third baseman has made this list four times this season. A Trip to the disabled list is likely due to back spasms that have limited him since early March. With the signing of veteran infielder Orlando Hudson, Morel may get an extended period of time to rehab in order to find his batting stroke. Last week was typical of his season, going 3 for 22 with no home runs and one RBI. The only streak of solid hitting for Morel was last September when he hit eight home runs.

CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel is likely headed to the disabled list due to a bulging disc in his back and will replaced by soon-to-be acquired Orlando Hudson, manager Robin Ventura said on Sunday.

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Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel could be placed on the disabled list due to a lower-back injury, manager Robin Ventura said Saturday.

Morel had a cortisone shot for his back on May 10. He said his back felt good for a few days afterward, but he began to feel pain again Thursday while returning from the team’s trip from Los Angeles. He attempted to take batting practice prior to Friday’s game with the Chicago Cubs, and the pain worsened.

Morel wasn’t in the White Sox’s lineup again on Saturday.

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Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel has been scratched from the lineup for Friday's game against the Chicago Cubs with lower back soreness and will be replaced by Eduardo Escobar.

Morel has four hits in his last 30 at-bats and has a .177 average. Escobar has played in 12 games this season and has six hit in 34 at-bats.

Here’s a look at the White Sox’s entire lineup which will face Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 2.89) on Friday:

1. Alejandro De Aza, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 2B
3. Adam Dunn, LF
4. Paul Konerko, 1B
5. A.J. Pierzynski, C
6. Alex Rios, RF
7. Alexei Ramirez, SS
8. Eduardo Escobar, 3B
9. Philip Humber, P

CHICAGO -- A few pre-game notes from the White Sox clubhouse:

• To what degree the soreness in Brent Morel’s back affected his play is unknown, but manager Robin Ventura liked what he saw from the third baseman during Friday’s batting practice.

Morel is back in the lineup today after resting the last two games. He’s 0-for-10 in his last four games.

“You could tell even in the way he was moving around and swinging yesterday,” Ventura said. “He was a little freer with everything he was doing.”

• Ventura was pleased with the scoreless inning reliever Jesse Crain threw for Triple A Charlotte on Friday, but wouldn’t commit to what the club will do after Crain’s second scheduled outing on Sunday.

Crain has been out with a strained left oblique since April 21. He struck out one, hit a batter and threw 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes in Friday’s rehab assignment.

“We’re just thinking about today,” Ventura said. “We want to see how he does Sunday before we kind of go into what’s going to happen.”

• Addison Reed has had a smooth first month in the big leagues. The rookie reliever hasn’t allowed a run through 10 innings this season and has struck out 13 batters in his last seven innings. Reed said the White Sox’s closer-by-committee doesn’t affect his approach one bit.

“I could come in the fifth or sixth inning and I’d still have the same mindset if I was closing,” he said. “To me, it doesn’t matter what inning I’m throwing. I’m just trying to put up zeros.”

Patience had been Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura's mantra as he watched both Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham struggle with the bats this season.

On Tuesday the manager admitted, at that some point, his patience may wear thin if his pair of infielders do not get their act together.

“Eventually you have to do something about it,” Ventura said. “Right now I still believe in what I see and talking to them I am still confident that they are going to perform.”

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Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura knows his offense has been struggling, but for right now, he’s not losing any sleep over it.

“There’s not a lot you can do, this is who we are,” Ventura said. “You work at it, you look at stuff and try and help guys out. We haven’t spent any all-nighters in here.”

When Ventura says this is who the White Sox are, hopefully he doesn’t mean they’re a team that will average two runs a game, which is what they’ve done during their five-game losing streak.

Ventura decided to give two struggling players, Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham, days off on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox. Beckham is hitting .153, Morel is hitting .178 and neither has a home run on the season. Ventura said he’s just going with a different look with the lineup, but wasn’t committing to any permanent changes. Ventura said he’d wait and see how things go on Sunday, but expected them to both be back in the lineup on Tuesday.

“I think a lot of it has become mental, it mounts up on them,” Ventura said of Morel and Beckham’s struggles. “These are just little mental breaks, giving them this day and they have [Monday] off and then they’ll be back at it. You look at Gordon, the at-bat he had last night, it was a good at-bat. He just didn’t get a hit. But he grinded it out, the competitiveness was there. He competed that at-bat.”

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STREAKING

1. Philip Humber, SP: One of the hottest players in baseball pitches for the White Sox and who can argue with the 21st perfect game in the 136-year history of the game? The most impressive thing about Humber’s feat on Saturday was the pitch count (97) and, as the fifth starter, that he had to wait over two weeks to get his second start of the season. Humber, the third overall selection in the 2004 draft by the New York Mets, is the latest miracle delivered by pitching coach Don Cooper, who has worked his magic again in transforming someone else’s failed No. 1 pick into a White Sox success story.

2. Alex Rios, OF: The underachieving Rios is off to his best start since 2010 when he played All-Star-caliber baseball the first three months of that season. Rios is batting .333 with a home run and 7 RBIs. He has 10 hits in his last 20 at-bats and has driven in six runs in a span of six games. Rios told ESPNChicago.com he is thrilled to be back in right field which he considers his natural position. Rios’ defense has been outstanding, except for a few isolated situations.

SLUMPING

1. Dayan Viciedo, LF: After a decent start to the season Viciedo’s hitting has faded over the past week. He is stuck in a 2-for-22 slump with one RBI in the last week of play. To his credit, Viciedo’s defense has continued to improve as he gets use to the new outfield position. The coaching staff still believes Viciedo, who is batting .186 with two home runs and 2 RBIs, will be a strong run producer this season.

2. Brent Morel, 3B: Morel makes this list for the second straight week even with some improvement in the past couple of games. He is in a 3-for-25 slump, and 22 strikeouts in 51 at-bats projects to 220 whiffs in 500 at-bats. Hitting coach Jeff Manto has been working with the young infielder to help him drive the ball to right field. Defense has not been an issue, although Morel had a few rough games early on with the glove.

The early-season struggles of Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel continue to be focal points, and some of the Chicago White Sox coaching staff are throwing extra batting practice every day in an attempt to get them out of their slumps.

Part of the solution is to get the two young infielders set with a plan of attack in each and every at-bat.

“I think when you go up to the plate you have to have a plan,” manager Robin Ventura said. “It’s been said before, it is better to have a bad plan than no plan at all. It is [about] an approach of a guy going up there -- you can’t swing at everything and hope something is going to happen. That is a part of practicing and becoming more comfortable with what they are trying to do to you.”

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CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura said Tuesday he hasn’t lost faith that third baseman Brent Morel is going to be a productive hitter in the No. 2 slot this season.

Morel hasn’t gotten off to a strong start like he did a year ago. Last season, Morel compiled 10 hits in the team’s first seven games. This season, he’s had three hits in his first 29 at-bats and has a .103 batting average. He’s also second on the team in strikeouts with 13, including four in the past two games.

“I still think he’s going to be more of a contact hitter, hit line drives,” Ventura said prior to Tuesday’s game. “I believe that, believe in him doing that. He’s going to stay there. He just needs to be a little more aggressive in the zone, and things will turn around for him.”

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CHICAGO -- Clutch hitting failed the Chicago White Sox in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. While the Sox recorded a home run for the fifth straight game and Paul Konerko extended his hitting streak to seven games, the club left six runners on base and hit just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Rick Porcello had the Sox’s number, allowing five hits and a run over 7 2/3 innings, keeping them off-balance throughout the day.

“Even when we got a couple guys on, he took it to another level and seemed like he was spotting a little better in tougher situations,” manager Robin Ventura said. “In a lot of ways you just tip your hat and come back tomorrow.”

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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel's horrific opening day left him dropped from second to eighth in Robin Ventura’s batting order in Game 2 of the series.

Morel went hitless on Friday, striking out four times. However that was not the worst of it, as he also bobbled a ball on defense that led to the go-ahead run scoring in the sixth inning.

“He is going to save more games than he is going to hurt us [in],” John Danks, who took the loss Friday, said. “He’s a damn good third baseman and he will be there all year helping the pitchers out.”

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