GLENDALE, Ariz. – The White Sox 7-6 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon at Camelback Ranch and their 6-5 defeat against Oakland in Mesa marked the first 2019 Cactus League contests for manager Rick Renteria’s crew.
But White Sox reliever Carson Fulmer already was dissecting his debut with a regular-season feel. Fulmer replaced starter Donn Roach with Dodgers runners on first and third, two outs and four runs across in the first and escaped that jam.
Fulmer admitted a couple of pitches got away, and he regretted an 0-2 cutter to Enrique Hernandez that resulted in a two-run double and the two runs he allowed over 1 1/3 innings, while walking one. Overall, though, Fulmer was satisfied.
“Actually, I felt really good,” Fulmer said. “Just comparing it to the last couple of Spring Trainings, my stuff is more electric, got a lot more swing and misses.
“Just getting in that adrenaline, kind of getting that feel back, it's just something you can't really train for. All in all, I think I filled up the zone pretty well being out there. I tried to take as many positives as I could.”
This Spring Training and ensuing 2019 season are big ones for Fulmer, the team’s top selection in the 2015 Draft, who has struggled in 24 Major League games. Fulmer put in offseason work at Driveline Baseball in Seattle, returned to his old delivery from the highly successful Vanderbilt days and felt as if his velocity and spin rate were improving as his work led into an Arizona arrival.
Yoán Moncada begins an important year of his own, but for different reasons than Fulmer. While Fulmer is trying to earn a spot on the roster, Moncada is moving from second base to third and trying to improve from his first full season with the White Sox featuring a .235 average and 217 strikeouts.
During Saturday’s split-squad action against the A’s, Moncada doubled, singled, drove in one run and scored one. He didn’t have a defensive chance at third base, but as Renteria stated previously, Moncada believes the move across the diamond also will help his offensive focus.
“Yeah, I definitely feel a lot better, a lot more comfortable,” said Moncada through an interpreter. “Obviously having a full year in the big leagues definitely helps. I feel a lot more confident.”
Hours before Saturday’s Glendale action, Camelback Ranch’s playing field looked more like April in Chicago as opposed to the usual warm Arizona afternoon. The temperatures were in the 40s, and White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard was working to get a significant amount of ice off the outfield grass.
There was baseball, with the White Sox actually having the winning run on base in the ninth before the Dodgers closed out the victory. Nobody ever won a World Series or reached the Hall of Fame based on great Cactus League numbers, but Fulmer eventually wants these results to match how good he feels on the mound.
“I'm a really big competitor. I want to put up really good numbers,” Fulmer said. “This is my fourth Spring Training, and you kind of just gauge it and compare it to the other times you've been out there. This is definitely the best I've felt. I'm definitely getting into the groove.
“It's a lot of things to build off of. It's not the best result that I wanted, but [White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper] and I talked after the game a little bit just on pitches, and I executed quite a few really good pitches and a couple that got steered into the strike zone, instead of me just throwing it. Definitely get back out there in a few days and do it all over again.”