White Sox want to win spring training by mixing good health and consistent energy
CHICAGO, Ill. - White Sox manager Pedro Grifol wants to make it clear that Spring Training is open season.
If you want a spot in the starting lineup, you'll have to win it. Competition will be an ongoing theme out West.
"There's a lot of guys with little major league experience," Grifol said. "We're open to anything. We're open to what helps us win baseball games. I think everybody knows that. And I think everybody's coming into spring training with that mentality, and there's going to be a lot of competition."
At the Boy's and Girl's Club of Chicago in Bridgeport just blocks away from Guaranteed Rate Field, the Sox participated in a community outreach event complete with an obstacle course that required some teamwork to clear.
At the outset of Spring Training, the preseason is already proving to be somewhat of an obstacle course.
Pitcher Dylan Cease is seemingly the next player on the block to be dealt by first-year general manager Chris Getz. Grifol named Cease the Opening Day starter on March 28 against the Detroit Tigers.
Yoan Moncada is healthy and plans to get to Spring Training early, on either Jan. 31 or Feb. 1. Moncada will be expected to provide leadership for a team that has a mix of newcoming players, players who are vying to improve from the minors to the majors and the returning players.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 09: Luis Robert Jr. #88 of the Chicago White Sox celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off single during the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at Guaranteed Rate Field on June 09, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Pho
There's much for the Sox to improve on from a team that went 61-101 last season. Grifol is looking to the experienced White Sox players to instill the leadership that sets the example of how he wants Sox baseball to look from Day 1 of Spring Training.
"I've seen the really good times and I've seen the really bad times the last three years," outfielder Gavin Sheets said. "It proves to you how important a clubhouse is. It proves to you that, never take for granted seasons like '21 that we had and it also proves how much you want to get back to that winning way."
The way Grifol wants to instill his preferred way of White Sox baseball through players like Sheets and Moncada.
Grifol isn't going to anoint leadership this season; he wants the players to take it upon themselves. However, he knows certain players can field the leadership he wants to see.
"The one thing I do know is we have players in that clubhouse now that are ready to lead," Grifol said. "They just got to go take it. They have all the characteristics that they need to become leaders. They know what winning baseball looks like."
Grifol wants those players to bring consistent energy during Spring Training.
However, within the competition, Grifol wants to see this preseason that energy can come from anyone.
The Sox have acquired six players via trades between November and December. There are plenty more, like Nick Nastrini acquired in a midseason trade with the Dodgers for Lance Lynn.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 19: Manager Pedro Grifol #5 of the Chicago White Sox walks across the field during the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
Nastrini said he's looking forward to the next level and the lessons he can learn from the big leagues.
"The minor leagues, you learn a lot about yourself: who you are as a baseball player, who you are as a person," Nastrini said. "When you get to the big leagues, there's a lot you still have to learn. You can't come up as a rookie and think that you know everything. So I'm excited to learn a lot more about myself as a person and as a player."
But, the other objective is to stay healthy.
Moncada and Eloy Jimenez missed a combined total of 112 games last season. Grifol said the team needs to have a mindset that they'll play 162 games, not 120, or 130 or that they'll get a day off after playing five games.
These are the two aspects that will come into play during Spring Training competitions.
Until the Sox get a look at that competition, there won't be any thought of the playoffs.
After losing 101 games, Grifol just wants to win Spring Training before any talk of the postseason comes into the discussion.
"That's not what this is about," Grifol said. "This is about us. Preparing ourselves to play and proving to our fans once again that they had a difficult year last year, that we're going to come out and play a different style of baseball."
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