Nishida shows off his arm and his enthusiasm in big league debut with the White Sox

CHICAGO (AP) — Rikuu Nishida was all smiles. There were hugs and laughter. So much laughter.

Nishida has brought his infectious enthusiasm to the major leagues.

“I just love the game of baseball,” he said.

Nishida joined the Chicago White Sox on Monday after he was brought up from Triple-A Charlotte. He played mostly second base in the minors, but he started in right field and finished with seven putouts in a 3-1 victory over Minnesota in his big league debut.

The 25-year-old Nishida threw out Orlando Arcia when he attempted to score from second on Alex Jackson's single in the second, earning a loud cheer from the crowd of 30,114 on a sunny afternoon at Rate Field. He lost his left shoe on the play.

“That was bad prepare, huh? That was bad prepare,” Nishida cracked. “I needed more tight shoes.”

Nishida struck out swinging in his first at-bat, but he bounced a single back up the middle in the fourth for his first hit.

“It was really fast,” he said of his debut. “It goes fast.”

Jarred Kelenic was designated for assignment. The veteran outfielder batted .226 with a homer and four RBIs in 19 games with the White Sox.

Listed at 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds, Nishida hit .347 with a homer and 10 RBIs in 33 games at Charlotte. He also swiped nine bags in 13 attempts and stealing 40 bases in the minors last year.

“He did what we expect him to do,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Really good defender. A really good quality of at-bats. He's a fun player. He's a good player, too, and can do a lot of things on a baseball field. Yeah, he got tested pretty early there.”

Second baseman Chase Meidroth had some fun with Nishida ahead of his debut, sending him out early before the rest of the team took the field.

“That's bad teammate right there,” Nishida joked.

With Nishida and first baseman Munetaka Murakami, Chicago joined Philadelphia (2008) and Seattle (2012) as the teams in major league history with two Japanese-born position players in the same starting lineup, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Murakami, 26, signed a $34 million, two-year contract with the White Sox in December. He hit his team-high 18th homer in the first inning against the Twins.

“He's strong. He has a big leadership,” Nishida said through an interpreter. “He's like a dad to me. You can just rely on him all the time.”

Nishida is the fifth Japanese-born player to play for the White Sox, also joining Shingo Takatsu (2004-05), second baseman Tadahito Iguchi (2005-07) and outfielder Kosuke Fukudome (2012).

He has No. 51 with Chicago in homage to countryman Ichiro Suzuki, a Hall of Fame outfielder who spent most of his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners. He met Suzuki last year and received a bat signed by the Japanese star.

“I can't put into words how much of a great player Ichiro is,” Nishida said. “I mean I can't even say Ichiro. I can't even say Mr. Ichiro. He's a legend, and I can't put into words how much he means to me and how much of a player he is.”

Nishida played two seasons at Mt. Hood Community College before spending one year at the University of Oregon. He was selected by the White Sox in the 11th round of the 2023 amateur draft.

He is the ninth Japan-born player to go in the draft and appear in at least one major league game, according to Sportradar. Stephen Randolph, who was drafted in 1995 and made his debut with Arizona in 2003, was the last player to join the list.

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Chicago White Sox's Rikuu Nishida, of Japan, leaves after talking to media before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Chicago, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Rikuu Nishida, of Japan, talks to media before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Chicago, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Rikuu Nishida, of Japan, talks to media before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Chicago, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago White Sox's Rikuu Nishida, of Japan, warms up before a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Chicago, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Voters in Texas will see little of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate on Monday. But that's only if they stay away from screens.

There were no public campaign events scheduled for Sen. John Cornyn nor state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the final day of their more than yearlong quest for the GOP nomination. Instead, their fight for Tuesday's runoff continues as it has for months — intense and unabated — through advertising that has topped $109 million, heavily from Cornyn's side.

Cornyn is scheduled to host an annual, non-campaign event in San Antonio to recognize high school graduates attending the nation's service academies. The senator seeking a fifth term held his last public campaign event in Corpus Christi on Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s voting.

Paxton headlined his last events Thursday in the Austin area and in San Antonio, content to let his campaign and a super PAC carry his primary message: that President Donald Trump endorsed him on May 19.

Trump's announcement and accompanying dismissal of Cornyn, who has had an awkward public relationship with the president, came on the second day of early voting, which ended Friday.

Though the candidates were quiet over the weekend, Trump reaffirmed his support for Paxton on Sunday, and disparaged Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to him.

Paxton, Trump posted on social media, “was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME,” while calling Cornyn “VERY disloyal to me.” It was Trump's strongest rebuke of Cornyn, who had dismissed his 2024 comeback chances, and echoed the president's reproach of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy before he lost in the May 15 GOP Senate primary.

After Trump's jabs, Cornyn still leaned into his support for the president just before Monday's event. The senator said that 99.3% of his votes aligned with Trump, that he “wants him to be successful” and then he referenced Trump’s previous comments “where he called me a good man and a friend.”

As for endorsing his opponent, “obviously the president is entitled to make his pick," he said, but “Texans are a pretty independent breed and people will be making their own choices.”

Following Trump's call for retribution, Republican voters in Indiana and Kentucky have also chosen GOP primary challengers over incumbent GOP officeholders who have crossed the president or opposed his agenda.

For a contest that is expected to draw a fraction of Texas’ 18.7 million voters, the two candidates’ campaigns and supporting groups were continuing to bombard all Texans with advertising, though more by Cornyn's backers than Paxton's.

"It’s just a slug fest, with the campaigns and third-party groups slugging it out,” said Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

The combination of Cornyn's campaign and supporting super PACs has far outspent pro-Paxton groups over the past year, by almost nine-to-one. But the gap has shrunk as the runoff has approached. In the final week of the campaign, the combination of pro-Cornyn ad spending was less than twice that of Paxton's group.

Cornyn's network continued to air spots attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions that have shadowed him with little effect throughout the campaign. The senator's consequent argument to voters is that Paxton would struggle in the general election and threaten to flip the seat blue.

“Paxton’s flaws and the baggage he brings to the general election is going to be exploited to the fullest by James Talarico,” he told reporters, before heading into Monday's ceremony and giving a speech devoid of campaign politics to the assembled graduates.

Cornyn’s campaign also had reprised an ad noting his tendency to vote in the Senate for Trump’s priorities.

Paxton's campaign and groups supporting him transitioned midweek to all ads noting Trump's endorsement, though Paxton's primary super PAC, Lone Star Liberty Fund, began airing one over the weekend aimed at raising questions about state Rep. James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to supporters at a campaign event in McKinney, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Darlee Foster, left, and Debbie King talk before the Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, campaign event in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Annie Rice)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, listens to State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, during a campaign event in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Annie Rice)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, smiles at a campaign event in McKinney, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)