White Sox want you to know how much they like Romy González

There's very little about Romy González's track record that says it's a good idea to make him the priority at second base for Opening Day, but the White Sox nudged that idea forward over the course of the offseason, and we're seeing it in the early days of spring training.

González, the Miami native and University of Miami product, worked closely with new hitting coaches Jose Castro, Chris Johnson and Mike Tosar over the winter...

... and when somebody asked Rick Hahn about second base to give him a brief respite from handling Mike Clevinger questions poorly, he didn't give the impression that it was the most open of competitions.

Which also reminds me that the White Sox's preseason hype video featured an unusual amount of González.

Unless this is all leverage to get Elvis Andrus to lower his demands to a price Jerry Reinsdorf is willing to pay, it looks like González is Plan A. If it's a concrete argument for González that you seek, you'll be left wanting. In his favor is a .283/.364/.532 line with 24 homers and 24 stolen bases over 93 games between Birmingham and Charlotte in 2021.

Working against González: Just about everything else in his pro career.

González struck out 112 times in 93 games during his otherwise charmed season, and that flaw was exploited in his cups of coffee. He's struck out 39 times against just two walks over 109 MLB plate appearances, including a worrisome whiff rate against fastballs, as Josh and I hashed out in a podcast episode about the second base situation back in December.

Throw in everything that came before his breakout -- the 18th-round selection, the .693 OPS at Kannapolis as a 22-year-old, being left out of alternate training site plans -- and it's hard to understand how Romy became their homie.

At best, I can make an easy argument to not dismiss González. Injury and illness prevented him from attempting to build on his breakout, yet his 2022 season could've been even worse. He climbed out of his minor-league rut after a midseason tonsillectomy, and a team with contender-level depth probably would've allowed González to finish the year on a higher note in Triple-A, rather than calling him up for MLB plate appearances that became less and less competitive. Either way, credit to González for salvaging what could've easily been a total loss, and to the point where he apparently has the inside track to second base.

There's zero reason to have further conviction, and that's not the hot take it sounds like. Everything is theoretical -- his health, his ceiling, and the benefits of his work with a new coaching staff. The White Sox are saying they have to PROVE IT, and González has less of a track record than just about everybody.

Fortunately for González, the other guys with similarly brief résumés all play the same position. Pretty much every argument you can make against González also works against Lenyn Sosa.

If nothing else, I'm now way more interested in González's spring training than I would've been otherwise. They could've possessed the same confidence in González but kept it to themselves to avoid going out on a limb, so I want to see why they're making this particular choice.

It'd be great if the White Sox turned out to be right because I don't think anybody who doubted the project could call themselves wrong. Hahn said his second-biggest offseason acquisition is said to "have a chip on his shoulder," which is another way to say "he's fighting off decline." Similarly, it's hard to know if González's offseason work is truly revelatory, or whether he's just the most advanced infielder among a field of cheap options.