PHOENIX — Three minutes with Romy Gonzalez about playing center field (he had to get to a meeting). A handful of questions that got Pedro Grifol rolling during his media session. Aside from that, Sunday didn’t feel like a day when I got to talk a lot of baseball. But it’s OK, because it’s the last moment possible for us to talk about the White Sox Opening Day roster before they announce all the moves.
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Catchers (2)
Yasmani Grandal, Seby Zavala
Others technically still in camp at this writing: Sebastian Rivero (NRI)
After sporting a full beard for all spring, Rivero came into the clubhouse cleanly shaven one day late this month. Not recognizing him and thinking he was possibly a new guy, I followed him at a distance to see what locker he went to. I am 90 percent sure he both noticed me and figured out what I was doing.
Oscar Colás said in an interview earlier this spring that if he had his choice, he’d love to wear No. 44 in the majors. Zavala has worn No. 44 for the last two seasons. The boys were having some fun with ol’ Seby in the locker room Sunday morning about this predicament. Zavala’s five home runs in Cactus League play paces the White Sox.
Infielders (7)
Andrew Vaughn, Elvis Andrus, Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada, Hanser Alberto, Gavin Sheets, Romy Gonzalez
Others technically still in camp at this writing: Jake Burger (40-man), Leury García (entering the second year of a three-year guaranteed contract), Erik González (NRI), Zach Remillard (NRI)
Sunday morning found Leury García’s locker removed of personal effects, hinting at the end of what was the longest active tenure of any White Sox player. A source close to the situation confirmed that veteran non-roster invitee Hanser Alberto is expected to make the Opening Day roster, effectively winning the reserve infielder job over García, who the Sun-Times separately reported has been told he will not break camp. García’s losing a position battle to a non-roster invitee in the second season of his three-year deal, amid a spring when a bevy of homegrown middle infield depth was also on display, doesn’t speak well to the thinking behind locking him into such a long-term commitment. But last season’s back troubles affected García’s bat and defensive range (evident this spring) more than what could have been originally anticipated, and acknowledging and addressing misfires is the way a serious club behaves.
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“Everyone here is committed to putting the best team on the field, every single day,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I noticed that during my interview. I noticed it as soon as I started dealing with our front office on a daily basis. The commitment here to putting the best team on the field is real. Anything on the financial side, those are questions for (general manager) Rick (Hahn). But they’ve never been a factor for me and they’ve never indicated that anything like that is a factor. The best team on the field is the only thing we’ve been focused on.”
Now, while Grifol stipulated the presence of Andrus removes the need to carry another shortstop on the roster, not carrying García removes the now familiar Sox setup of having one guy who can play every infield and outfield position. The latter weeks of spring have seen Grifol’s testing whether Gonzalez and Oscar Colás can play center field in a pinch behind Luis Robert Jr. Since Grifol gave positive reviews to Colás, that would be technically enough coverage to roster Burger and have the thunder on the bench against left-handed pitching the manager has hinted at coveting. But Gonzalez, who has earned praise from across the coaching staff all offseason and smacked four home runs in the last 10 days of camp, offers more defensive versatility. He played right field, third and first base Sunday, just to provide a taste of what his season could look like.
“From the beginning of camp, Pedro was very transparent with me that they’re potentially going to use me everywhere,” Gonzalez said. “Whenever I do my outfield work, I usually go to center field and get my reps there. Because I feel like if you can play center, you can play left and right. I feel pretty comfortable out there.”
Vaughn has played two minor-league spring games without any issues from his lower back, a number that isn’t much lower than the number of minor-league games he played before making his major-league debut. Moncada left Sunday’s Cactus League game after two innings with the same issue but told beat writers afterward that he was fine. For the sake of vibes if nothing else, let’s put them both in here.
Outfielders (4)
Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Oscar Colás
Others technically still in camp at this writing: Billy Hamilton (NRI), Jake Marisnick (NRI), Adam Haseley (NRI)
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If we’re going to talk a lot about winning jobs in spring, Haseley (1.016 OPS) has been wrecking the back half of Cactus League games all spring. It’s a sudden about-face from years past when another left-handed bat is suddenly a little redundant in the White Sox outfield. As a Type XX (B) free agent, Hamilton could opt out March 25 upon being notified by the White Sox that he wasn’t making the Opening Day roster, but he remains present up to this point.
“Those guys with options, those guys have made a decision already on their end whether they wanted to be a part of us,” Grifol said. “We were pressed to make a few of those decisions if they would have, but they like it here. It bought us some time to make some decisions.”
Starting pitchers (5)
Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Mike Clevinger
Others technically still in camp at this writing: Assistant pitching coach Curt Hasler started 82 of his 97 appearances in the White Sox farm system. Don’t believe he’s currently stretched out, though.
“Starting pitchers, we kind of make it go for the team,” Giolito said. “When we go, we’re going good, we’re setting up the rest of the team to be successful and win games. We have a very nice group. We all get along very well, have fun together, so it’s a good jumping-off point. Obviously, some of us have known each other for a few years at this point, but adding in (Clevinger), I feel like we have a very nice group of starters.”
Once Clevinger avoided suspension by MLB, this group became set barring any health issues. As a collective, they have not lit up the radar guns in Arizona, with Cease topping out at 96 mph at the end of his spring, and Kopech and Giolito sitting 91-94 mph in the last couple of outings, but none has reported any physical issues in line with that. Kopech and Clevinger were dealing with some sort of respiratory issue the last time each pitched, though. As Giolito said, they’re a tightknit group, after all.
“You have what you have at this particular time and you work to get to where you need to go, but you still have to go out there and compete and our guys have done a really, really good job of that,” Grifol said. “As we get closer, you see those velocities keep creeping up. I’m comfortable where the guys are at.”
“I’m looking forward to the adrenaline now,” Cease said of getting the Opening Day start. “Get my fastball back up there.”
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Relief pitchers (8)
Reynaldo López, Aaron Bummer, Kendall Graveman, José Ruiz, Joe Kelly, Jimmy Lambert, Jake Diekman, Gregory Santos
Others technically still in camp at this writing: Tanner Banks (40-man), Garrett Crochet (40-man, likely to start season on IL), Matt Foster (40-man, likely to start season on IL), Keynan Middleton (NRI)
The White Sox pledged not to stash Rule 5 draft pick Nick Avila in the major-league bullpen just for the sake of stashing him if he wasn’t quite major-league ready, and after preparing him for a multi-inning role all spring, stayed true to their word, said a source with knowledge of Avila’s situation. There is still some optimism the Sox can work out a deal with the Giants to keep Avila and continue developing a strike-throwing reliever who has yet to reach Triple A, but the situation is no longer fully in their control.
As is common industry courtesy with veteran non-roster invitees, the White Sox granted Bryan Shaw his release to pursue other opportunities at the end of a solid spring (1.08 ERA in eight appearances). Crochet threw his first live batting practice this week and is not expected back until mid-May. Having converted his high-90s fastball to a sinker to better pair with his plus slider, Santos provides the best option for impact. And in place of Avila’s multi-inning potential, Grifol will see whether everyone is capable of multiple innings. He had every reliever make an appearance of four outings or more in spring, if only to build familiarity.
“I think most of our guys are capable of doing it,” Grifol said. “Some guys we might not ask that of them. But I think it’s a mindset. Here’s the way I look at that. Relievers most of the time come in, in leverage situations. When you come in, in a leverage situation, especially in the middle of an inning, you come in on a really high adrenaline rush. When you get out of it, you’re up here (raises hand over head). And then you sit down for 10-12 minutes and then you’re asked to get to that high again. That’s why it’s so hard.”
Bummer not only has appeared in a Cactus League game after being slowed by lat discomfort early in camp but also looked sharp and sat 95-96 mph with an effective sinker. Graveman recorded two outings and four outs at the WBC but felt the intensity of the event helped.
“Guys that have been around the game in a while, it’s not their first spring training, a lot of the time the intensity kind of stays at 80 percent,” Graveman said. “It’s hard, really hard to get to 100 percent in these games.”
He’s not lying. Now they have the group to start playing some real ones.
(Top photo of Hanser Alberto: Allan Henry / USA Today)