For about one inning on Wednesday afternoon, we saw the reasons why the White Sox decided to build the team the way they did.
The White Sox fell behind the Dodgers 1-0 in the first, but it could've been worse. Michael Kopech issued a pair of four-pitch walks -- a leadoff one to Mookie Betts, and another one to Max Muncy that put runners on first and second with two outs. James Outman followed with a hot shot to the right side, but Nicky Lopez stopped Kopech's count at 27 pitches with a fine sliding stab to his right.
It wasn't what anybody wanted to see from Kopech, exactly, but it was the kind of defensive support that will put struggling pitchers on less of an island.
Then came the bottom of the first, when the White Sox strung together seven consecutive productive plate appearances against Yoshinobu Yamamoto of all people:
- Andrew Benintendi first-pitch single
- Yoán Moncada works a six-pitch walk
- Luis Robert Jr. opposite-field drive that allows Benintendi to tag
- Eloy Jiménez four-pitch walk
- Andrew Vaughn sac fly to center, all runners advancing on a throw to the wrong base
- Dominic Fletcher run-scoring infield single
- Paul DeJong run-scoring infield single off Yamamoto's person
Max Stassi then ended the inning with a lineout to left, so all three outs were well-struck. In fact, the outs represented better contact than the hits.
Just like that, the Sox led 3-1, and in the exact FAST fashion they'd plotted. They made contact, they took advantage of bad Dodger defense with opportunistic baserunning, and with two walks, they even backed up the praise offered by new hitting coach Marcus Thames on Monday:
“I just like where the guys are at. We talked about a lot of different things when I got the job in the offseason and just their focus and their work in the cages has been really good.
“We want to have competitive at-bats. Not making weak contact early in the count. Some guys are still trying to get their timing, but overall, I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen.”
An inning later, the White Sox showed why they might find themselves swimming against the tide more than they'd like. Kopech put the first two runners on base with a walk and a hit by pitch. One scored on a Shohei Ohtani single, and another scored when Ohtani stole second, and Stassi's throw skipped past DeJong to bring home the runner from third.
The plan experienced more turbulence a couple innings later. Jiménez legged out an infield single, Fletcher bunted for an easy single with the left side back, and both scored when Max Muncy matador'd a grounder down the third-base line, then didn't know where to go with the ball after retrieving it. That gave them a 5-3 lead through three...
... only to trail 7-5 by the middle of the fourth because Touki Toussaint is all sorts of off. He had two outs with nobody on in the fourth inning after a double play, only to give up a grand slam to Freddie Freeman before he could get out of the inning.
To hammer the point home, after Jiménez responded by tying the game at 7 with one beautiful swing, Toussaint allowed three of the first four batters to reach to start the fifth, and everybody scored.
Basically, this game exemplified the tension underneath the construction of the 2024 White Sox. They might make better decisions on a more frequent basis, but if the pitching staff's strike-throwing problems carry over into a fresh season, it'll be hard to tell the difference.
Eloy Jiménez is feeling it
Jiménez had another fantastic day at the plate. His walk, infield single and two-run homer raised his line to .545/.565/.773, and he's struck out just twice over 23 plate appearances.
The swing he put on Ryan Brasier's down-and-in-but-not-down-and-in-enough sinker was the definition of meeting the ball out front.
Jiménez has changed his setup, most notably his hand position. While he held his hands and lead elbow tight to the body until the pitcher released the ball, they now are further up and out through the entirety of the pitcher's delivery.
The success from swing changes and stance tweaks can be short-lived, so perhaps the more vital factor is that Jiménez is moving well. He's busting it down the line, and he even hopped over Fletcher's grounder in the first in an attempt to screen Gavin Lux, so we're seeing some athleticism that isn't normally associated with him. The question, as always, is how long he'll be able to maintain it. It's all fun and games until Jiménez pulls up lame, but until that happens, the explosiveness is fun to see.
John Schriffen is also feeling it
John Schriffen returned to the White Sox booth for his third spring training game. The previous one, which came a long 10 days before, ended with an Edgar Quero walk-off single that inspired Schriffen's first big call. It struck me as a little over-the-top, especially for the spring, but understandable if you consider it practice for the moments that have fireworks behind them.
Back in the saddle on Wednesday, Schriffen raised his voice for two highlights embedded above, and and they're united by a common phrase.
There's nothing wrong with "hey now" in and of itself, although he runs the risk of swinging Dave Sims' club there.
But I think it's the sudden shift in and out of both volume and vernacular that broadsides my ear. The Lopez play in particular feels less like a play-by-play guy, and more like a Sportscenter game recap from 1998.
Fastball, hard to right, but it's gloved by Nicky Lopez. Hey now, we love it, Nicky! But the Dodgers loved drawing nine walks and a Freddie Freeman grand slam more. Get out the checkbook and pay Grandma for the rubdown, Dodgers win, 12-9.
I don't intend to grade Schriffen on a game-to-game basis, because more than word choices for individual moments, his season is going to be about the relationship he builds with the viewer. That said, if this is the direction he's taking bigger moments, it's certainly ... a choice, and I'm wondering how many fans are going to go along for the ride.
