GLENDALE, Ariz. -- White Sox manager Pedro Grifol views 2024 Cactus League action, beginning Friday at Sloan Park against the Cubs with a 2:05 p.m. CT/1:05 p.m. MST first pitch, through a multiplan prism.
"You go out there to win every single game. I’m going to manage to win, and I think everybody does the same thing,” Grifol said. “However, at the end of the day, you have to debrief this thing, and reflect on what happened. Every coach has got an objective, every coach has got a responsibility. And that’s to dissect their area, and see where we had a win and an improvement.
“We will debrief it after, and see where we are at. It’s our responsibility to watch carefully, to dissect everything we are asking them to do and accomplish. Debrief it and fix it for the next day. At the end of the day, the box score is important, but we are also looking at things within that box score.”
The full White Sox squad has been working together since Monday, and Grifol has expressed his appreciation for the players’ in-camp effort and the work they put in before arriving in Arizona. General manager Chris Getz listed off a handful of positives from the pregame work on the back fields of Camelback Ranch, calling the situation “a motivating environment to show up for a daily basis.”
Greater knowledge will be gained from the game atmosphere, beginning with the White Sox intracity rival from the North Side. But in Grifol’s mind, the opponent really shouldn’t ever matter.
“It’s about creating an environment where we are facing a faceless opponent,” Grifol said. “It’s just us going out to compete. That takes a little bit of time. I’m really excited to start that process.
“Every great team I’ve been a part of, that’s the mentality. It’s almost like 'who cares who we play?' We are going out there to perform. That’s one of our goals to get to that point where we know who we are and let’s go play.”
Crochet getting started
Garrett Crochet, the team’s top pick in the 2020 Draft, is targeted to start and throw one inning Tuesday in a contest against the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch. The southpaw’s move from the bullpen toward the rotation continued Thursday with a live batting practice session.
“I liked the way he threw the ball. I thought it was coming out really well,” Grifol said. “He showed some really good offspeed pitches. He showed a pretty good fastball. He got ahead quick, but then he lost his aggressiveness in the strike zone.
“Maybe he was trying to make the perfect pitch, but the ball was coming out nice. For his live BP, I thought this was a good step going to his next phase.”
Pitching coach Ethan Katz likes what he has seen from Crochet, but added there are a lot of hurdles to climb for a 24-year-old with 73 career MLB innings and single-season high of 54 1/3 in 2021.
“Going out there and attacking the strike zone is number one and kind of building him up properly without overdoing it because of his workload in the past,” Katz said. “And being able to get into good counts and end at-bats.
“What we saw last year, you know, some of the innings got a little bit prolonged because of at-bats getting dragged out. We want him to be able to challenge the strike zone as much as possible. … We have to take it slowly. It has to be very methodical. See how he's feeling, how he's recovering.”
Third to first
Veteran reliever Jesse Chavez starts against the Cubs on Friday, with four other relievers scheduled to throw. Dominic Leone is one of four pitchers set to pitch Saturday at home against the Mariners.
The White Sox will play their final Cactus League game on Sunday, March 24 against the Rockies before playing an exhibition game against their Triple-A Charlotte affiliate at Camelback Ranch on Monday, March 25 to conclude action in Arizona. The game will begin at 10 a.m. P.T., with the team immediately departing for Chicago after the final out.