The Best Shape of His Life is a tried-and-true spring training story archetype, but the White Sox' usual feel-good spring training arrival stories were overshadowed by the fallout over the failed pursuit of Manny Machado.
Going back to see what we may have overlooked, there aren't a whole lot of classic BSOHL tales, and it's not because the White Sox are all coming off great seasons. Blake Rutherford aside, the performance-improvement plans hinge on more specific aspects of a player's approach.
For instance:
Lucas Giolito: Resetting. When Giolito came to the White Sox, he caught a lot of fans off guard by his honesty about his struggles. He's not great at shaking them off, so he spent the winter working with a neural feedback program to build better "neural pathways." At the risk of assuming details and getting something wrong, let's just say he's trying to find a reset button during an inning instead of after one. He's also working with a core velocity belt to stabilize his mechanics, so he's trying to get better at repeating his delivery in spite of anything that's happened earlier in the game.
Ian Hamilton: Endurance. Hamilton's performance during his September call-up didn't quite reflect the guy who posted such a dominant line across Double-A and triple-A. Part of it has to do with the ball, which Braves pitching prospect Mike Soroka explained here. But Hamilton also said he was out of gas, and spent the offseason throwing less in order to maintain his arm through a six-month season, rather than a five-month one.
Carson Fulmer: Identity. A lot's been written about his work with Driveline Baseball -- here's Chris Cwik for Yahoo Sports, and here's James Fegan for The Athletic -- and we saw the restoration of his Vanderbilt windup in the Cactus League opener. A comeback is more than wishful thinking, but there is some faith involved when it comes to putting him back in plans.
Blake Rutherford: Strength. It appears that Rutherford has won the club's MTP award: Most Transformed Physique. It's a pertinent development considering power/impact of contact is his biggest doubt, but we've also seen "pounds of muscle" fail to translate into improvement. At least Rutherford has age on his side, and filling out is still part of his maturation process, as opposed to a last-ditch effort to boost performance.
Michael Kopech: Openness. Kopech is still expected to miss the entirety of the season due to Tommy John surgery, so his biggest hurdles are mental. He's not shying away from discussing his battles with anxiety,
This season it happened as well but it wasn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. This season made me realize that I needed to talk about it. It made me realize it’s not going away if I continue to treat it the way I treat it. Now I take a different approach with my anxiety. I really just talk to people about it. If I’m feeling anxious, I tell people I’m feeling anxious. If I’m a little nervous about something, I vocalize that so it doesn’t seem like I’m battling myself when there’s already an external battle when it comes to my career, which is baseball. I really didn’t want to feel trapped in my own mind.
Ivan Nova: Lefties. Nova relies on sinkers and hasn't found a cutter or slider, so lefties can get good looks at his stuff. Unless Don Cooper can fashion him one of those pitches, his success might rely more on using his curveball as a primary pitch.
