Cactus League report: Adam Engel out ‘at least a couple of weeks’ for the White Sox — and the Cubs have big expectations for Ian Happ in the leadoff spot

The last full week of Cubs and White Sox spring training is underway, and top prospects are battling with players on minor-league deals and others with no remaining options for those coveted final roster spots.

Chicago Tribune baseball writers LaMond Pope, Meghan Montemurro and Paul Sullivan will be providing updates from the Cactus League on Monday through Friday throughout spring training.

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Monday’s games

Cubs at Los Angeles Angels, 3:10 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz.: Keegan Thompson vs. Griffin Canning.

San Francisco Giants at White Sox, 3:05 p.m. at Camelback Ranch: Kevin Gausman vs. Lucas Giolito.

Forecast: Sunny with a high of 75.

Groove interrupted

Adam Engel was in a groove.

But the White Sox outfielder could be out for “at least a couple of weeks,” according to manager Tony La Russa, because of a strained right hamstring suffered late in Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Indians at Camelback Ranch.

Known for his strong defense, Engel made a running catch in the eighth inning and an acrobatic throw to the plate. He began limping, received attention from the training staff and left the game.

“He’s a fast healer,” La Russa said Sunday. “It’s going to at least be a couple of weeks. Hopefully not longer, but we’ll see.”

Engel has a team-leading three home runs this spring. Two of them came in the last three games. He came within a single of the cycle Thursday against the Kansas City Royals, and he homered and tripled Friday against the Seattle Mariners. He went 5-for-10 with a double, two triples, two homers, four RBIs and four runs in his last three games.

Engel is expected to provide outfield depth behind starters Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Adam Eaton. Leury Garcia is another option, and the Sox recently signed Billy Hamilton to a minor-league contract with a major-league camp invitation. Outfielders Luis Gonzalez and Nick Williams are also in camp.

“It creates a spot open, so we’ll look at what we do with it,” La Russa said. “It’s not a good break for us. Adam does so much and he was really coming. It’s a tough time to pull the plug on it, but he knows what he was working on, and when he comes back, he’ll be ready to go.”

In more roster news, the Sox claimed pitcher Nik Turley off waivers from the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Sox placed reliever Jimmy Cordero on the 60-day injured list. Cordero underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday.

Leading man

Ian Happ has had a productive spring with a .300 average and .417 on-base percentage. The Cubs are expecting big things out of Happ in his first full year as the leadoff man, a problem area the last few years.

“That was a guy that had a phenomenal year for the abbreviated season,” manager David Ross said of Happ, who had an .866 OPS and 12 home runs in 57 games. “He continues to grow and find out his strengths and weaknesses.

“I can see him continuing to get better at the top of the lineup and getting on base in front of some horses that should be hitting behind him. Once everyone stays healthy, we’ll be working from him backwards.”

Better than the stat line

Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn are in line to pitch the first three games for the White Sox.

The rest of the rotation has not been announced, but all indications are Dylan Cease will be in the No. 4 slot.

Cease continued to solidify his spot with 3? scoreless innings Saturday against the Indians. The right-hander allowed three hits and struck out three but also walked three.

Cease felt even better than what the stat line showed.

“I thought I threw some good changeups,” he said Saturday. “Fastball for the most part was solid. And then toward the end I was pretty locked in with my slider.

“I just wasn’t really able to throw a curveball for a strike, but that’s one of those things where, as a pitcher, you’re not always going to have everything working, so I competed and a couple bad mistakes kind of made it look a little worse than it was. But at the end of the day, it was a little too many free passes.”

Cease hasn’t allowed a run in two spring starts (6? innings).

What we’re reading this morning

Beth Mowins makes history as the first woman to call a Cubs game — serving as the play-by-play announcer on Marquee Sports Network.

Eloy Jimenez is heating up at the plate as the White Sox season nears — and coach Frank Menechino believes he can be a .340 hitter someday.

Lance Lynn hasn’t allowed a run this spring, but the White Sox pitcher would like to be more efficient.

Loyola is Cinderella no more. After a convincing upset of No. 1 seed Illinois, the Sweet 16-bound Ramblers are a real threat to win it all.

Around the Cactus League

Oakland Athletics slugger Matt Olson is hitting .406 in 12 games with five home runs and nine extra-base hits. He hit .195 last year but appears healthy and ready to return to the norm. … The San Francisco Giants sent outfield prospect Heliot Ramos to minor-league camp despite a 1.164 OPS and three home runs, tied for the team lead. The Giants said all spring he would not make the team after missing out on a minor-league season in 2020. … Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich had one week off from Cactus League games, though manager Craig Counsell insisted Yelich was fine and just was given “a little break.” Yelich said he likes “slowing things down and getting my work in” on the back fields during the middle of camp before ramping up in the final week.

Quotable

“Try to get him before he gets off the bus.” — A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson on the best way to approach slugger Matt Olson this spring

This day in Cubs/White Sox history

March 22, 1998: Umpires begin enforcing the new speed-up rules meant to cut down on bloated game times. Pitchers will have to throw the ball within 12 seconds of a batter settling into the box if no one is on base. The umpire will have the discretion to call a ball if the pitcher fails to meet the 12-second deadline.

How will umpires enforce such a rule?

“I don’t know, but it won’t affect me,” Cubs pitcher Terry Mulholland said. “If they really want to speed up the game, maybe they should try enforcing the strike zone as it’s written in the (rule) book.”

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, in charge of enforcement, watched a Cubs-Mariners game from the press box, using a stopwatch on pitchers to demonstrate the amount of dawdling on the mound.

“If you can’t throw a ball in 12 seconds,” Robinson said, “something’s wrong.”

When Sammy Sosa batted in the fifth, strolling outside the box repeatedly, Robinson took note.

“See, if the umps were allowing that to happen (in season), I’d give the crew chief a call and say, ‘Hey, you’re allowing Sammy to walk 6 to 8 feet away,’ ” Robinson said. “And if they still allowed it, I’d see (the umpires) personally, and I would also talk to Sammy about it.”

Twenty-three years later, game times are over 3 hours, and baseball is experimenting again with a 15-second pitch clock in the minors.

Looking ahead

White Sox at Cubs, 3:05 p.m. Tuesday at Sloan Park