TEMPE, Ariz. — White Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi is aiming high, saying a return by Opening Day is the goal.

Ruled out four to six weeks after suffering a non-displaced fracture of his right hand — a non-surgical injury — Benintendi will be hard-pressed to be present when the Sox host the Angels on March 27 at Rate Field, so don’t count on it.

“That might be a little quick,” general manager Chris Getz said.

But a man can dream.

“I’m going to try to push that, and hopefully the bone heals quicker,” Benintendi said Friday. “We’ll see what happens.”

Guardians left-hander Logan Allen’s up-and-in pitch got Benintendi below the pinkie knuckle Thursday.

“I feel like I can make a fist and grab, but you have to let the bone heal,” Benintendi said. “Hopefully it’s less than four weeks. We’ll come up with a plan and see what happens. I want to be out there by Opening Day, but time will tell.”

Benintendi will need at-bats somewhere before it’s time, so it seems hard to fathom. The Sox likely will struggle to produce runs, so having their highest-paid player, who showed signs in the last two months of 2024 of being the hitter the Sox expected when they signed him, hit on the hand wasn’t a good sign. Benintendi is in the third season of a five-year, $75 million contract, the richest in franchise history.

Goal No. 1 for all in spring training is to stay healthy, but save for unwise and unnecessary leaps at the wall or diving attempts in the field, some are unavoidable. Benintendi said he hadn’t heard from Allen, who probably feels as bad as anyone.

“It’s part of the game,” Benintendi said. “You see guys now trying to pitch in; you see guys get hit on the hands all the time. Especially more recently. It kind of stinks. You miss four to six weeks. It’s part of it, I guess.

“You work all offseason to get ready for this, and things like this happen. It’s not the end of the world, but it sucks.”

Thumper

Infielder Lenyn Sosa has been an offensive bright spot in camp, with three hits, including a double, and two walks in seven plate appearances.

“He just looks like a guy who looks like he can hit, right?” manager Will Venable said. “He’s a hitter, and we know controlling the zone is going to be something that he’ll continue to work on. But there’s thump, there’s an understanding of situations, ability to use the whole field. Just a lot to like with him at the plate.”

Going against Sosa as he vies for an Opening Day roster spot: His defense is behind his offense. Going for him: He’s out of minor-league options.

Sosa’s productive winter-league performance was cut short by the same injury Benintendi suffered. The good news on that, Getz said, is that Sosa “bounced back from it pretty quickly.”

Could’ve been a contender

Left-hander Martin Perez raised eyebrows when he said the Sox are “contenders,” quite the stretch for a team coming off 121 losses. But, as Benintendi said, “there’s no reason to go into the season thinking this thing is already over.”

Players just aren’t wired that way

“I don’t think that that’s fair to anybody here, if we’re not going out and expecting to win every game,” Venable said, “and understanding there are things we need to work on to achieve that is very important. But, yeah, we’re going out with the expectation that we’re going to do all the little things that we have to do to win a game.”

Angels 3, Sox 2

Jonathan Cannon allowed two runs and four hits, including three doubles in the first of two innings. “Arm feels good; body feels good,” said Cannon, an Opening Day starter candidate. “Just kind of shaking off the rust a little bit my first time out in a game. My off-speed stuff wasn’t as sharp in the first inning. Thought I kind of solved it in the second inning.”

• Right-hander Penn Murfee, who has four strikeouts in two perfect innings, looked sharp again in relief. Murfee, an effective reliever for the Mariners in 2022 and 2023, was claimed off waivers from the Astros. He missed 2024 after Tommy John surgery. Jordan Leasure was perfect again in his second inning this spring.

• General manager Chris Getz, looking at the Sox’ outfield depth with Andrew Benintendi out with a broken hand, said he’ll explore options outside the organization even though he has Luis Robert Jr., Mike Tauchman, Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor penciled in as well as Dominic Fletcher, Oscar Colas and first baseman/outfielder Joey Gallo in camp.

• The Sox, who fell to 1-6 this spring, are averaging 2.7 runs.

• On deck: Sox at Mariners, 2:10 p.m. Saturday, Peoria, Shane Smith vs. TBD.