CHICAGO -- Dylan Cease struck out eight during his Summer Camp start on Thursday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

It was during an intrasquad game, where statistics are less significant. But as for Cease’s increasingly improved feel on the mound, that positive change means quite a bit momentum-wise for the White Sox right-hander as the 2020 season approaches.

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“Having an outing like yesterday before the season is huge,” Cease said Friday. “I feel like I’m as confident of a player as I’ve ever been right now.

“It’s not really a mental process. It’s really a body feel. So I’m not going to overthink it. If I need to make adjustments, I’ll work with [White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper] and talk to Dallas [Keuchel], and talk to everybody and see their opinion on it. For the most part, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do.”

Cease’s offspeed offerings played nearly perfect Thursday, as he got Andrew Vaughn and Yermin Mercedes to swing wildly in a couple of at-bats. The 24-year-old posted a 5.79 ERA over 14 starts during his rookie season in 2019, but he felt as if he learned from that experience and brought that knowledge into Spring Training.

Although Cease had to re-establish that positive feeling because of the break caused by the coronavirus pandemic, he now feels regular-season ready.

“I’m right where I need to be for the start of the season,” Cease said. “Sometimes I don’t have my nasty breaking balls, or if I do, I’m bouncing them.

“Yesterday it was a combination of having the 'A' stuff and the 'A' command. I’ve done it before, but nothing as consistent as that. I’m looking to take that into the season.”

Could the White Sox go with six-man rotation?
White Sox manager Rick Renteria wasn’t ready to announce his season-opening rotation on Friday, but he has six viable options in Lucas Giolito, Keuchel, Cease, Reynaldo López, Carlos Rodón and Gio González, the latter of whom started Friday’s intrasquad game. That group doesn’t even include right-handers Dane Dunning and Jimmy Lambert.

Renteria has numerous options, including combining starters for certain games. But at the season’s outset, as pitchers continue to build up, Renteria could opt for a six-man rotation, even for creatures of habit such as starters who are used to working every fifth day.

“The more help, the better. You would adapt to it immediately,” González said. “We're late in July, and whatever situation's going to help us get those wins, I'm all for it. I've gotten to a point in my career where I want to win; that's the most important thing. And it doesn't matter how the form comes.

“With the young guys that can help pick up some of the slack, especially take some of the load off some of the older guys like myself. That helps out a little bit, gives us more arms to mess with and more options to play with [against] the teams we're going to see quite often.”

It’s a good issue for Renteria to have, with all six hurlers capable contributors.

“Everyone's competing at a high level,” González said. “Then again, we are facing our guys, so at the same time, we're trying to take it easy. We don't want to hit guys; we're also being cautious. But at the same time, we don't want to give up a 500-foot shot [to] our guys. It's all fun and games; we're all working on things. We're all in the right mind frame. We want to get better, and we all want to do our job.”

“I'm just ready to be in whatever spot they ask me to be in,” said López, who threw 4 2/3 innings in relief Thursday, through interpreter Billy Russo. “Third, fourth, fifth, it doesn't matter. I'm just ready to do my job and to help this team.”

Moncada making progress
On Friday, Yoán Moncada’s legs looked better than Renteria thought they would in his movements, actions and explosiveness after the third baseman’s workout. Moncada returned to the White Sox on Thursday, after testing positive for COVID-19 before camp began on July 3 and then going through the recovery/return process.

“All the indications right now, knock on wood, he looks good,” Renteria said. “Hopefully after tomorrow I'll have a much better idea where he's at physically after I talk to him.

“Tomorrow will be a good day to see how he's feeling. We're going to do everything we can to put him in a position to give him a chance to be with us as we open up. I'm not precluding trying to hold him back. I just have to be very mindful that he's listening to his body, and he's giving me information I can use to draw a conclusion.”

Moncada planned to stand in with Keuchel throwing Friday to track pitches.

Third to first
• Right-handed reliever José Ruiz also rejoined the White Sox on Thursday. Much like Moncada, Ruiz was absent from camp before it began. He is working out at the alternate training site in Schaumburg, Ill.

• Andrew Vaughn, the No. 2 White Sox prospect per MLB Pipeline, went the opposite way for a home run during Friday afternoon’s intrasquad game.

They said it
“Anything that’s in the air to center, as long as it doesn’t feel like it’s gone, it’s probably going to be caught.” -- Cease, on Luis Robert’s defense in center field