GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The word “runway” has been invoked by White Sox general manager Chris Getz more times of late than a busy air traffic controller at O’Hare International Airport.
Such is the way of life within a rebuild, where players might get that extra chance to prove themselves absent from a team closer to contending.
But with the good feeling surrounding the South Siders at the outset of Spring Training, some of those runways might soon be shut down with young players establishing themselves in the present and for the future. The expectations clearly have been raised.
“Our expectations [were] almost zero the last two years,” right-hander Davis Martin told MLB.com. “You are going out there and you go be a big leaguer and go have fun, play your part and learn how it is you want to do your job and what routines you want to build as a big leaguer.
“You go into this year and all those guys who had that runway, now there is an expectation that you’ve figured that out. Now, it’s time to go. The runway is much smaller. It’s still the normal, ‘Hey, get your feet wet in Spring Training, get a couple of games for the season.’ And then it’s, ‘Hey, we gotta win games.’ It’s our goal.”
Martin has talked frequently about the culture building going on with the team dating back to the ‘25 campaign. It was set by manager Will Venable, now in his second season at the helm, and then reinforced by the players.
This culture continues to grow even with new faces being added to the mix. Martin hosted rotation mates Shane Smith, Jonathan Cannon, Drew Thorpe and Sean Burke at his family’s Eagle Ranch in Texas during the offseason, while 15-to-18 White Sox players gathered together last Sunday to watch the Seahawks dispatch the Patriots in the Super Bowl LX.
“Terrible Super Bowl,” Burke, a native of the Boston area, said with a laugh. “We were all kind of rooting for the Patriots to win, except for [Noah] Schultz -- Schultz wanted the Seahawks. He was a little bit public enemy No. 1.”
There’s a second annual team golf tournament among the players taking place Monday, following a 32-person turnout last year with eight teams of four.
“It’s been great. I think the lack of introductions is the first thing I kind of noticed,” Martin said of White Sox Spring Training. “You have some new guys in here but you have a group you are already acquainted with, familiar with.
“So, you are able to hit the ground running and kind of really get going into your routines, practices, without feeling the room out. Having the new guys come in, the guys who have been here kind of open themselves up and introducing themselves, make them feel at home, it’s been a good start to camp.”
Those runways afforded to some of these new players come in different forms.
For Luisangel Acuña, the right-handed hitting athlete who underachieved with the Mets, there will be a chance for 400-500 plate appearances with the ‘26 White Sox even if he starts slowly. For a veteran such as Anthony Kay, he has 25 starts guaranteed barring injury or a trade in his return from a stellar season in Japan.
“That’s what I’ve always wanted to do, be a starter and continue off of what I did in Japan the last couple of years,” Kay said. “I had a Zoom meeting early on with these guys when I was going through the free agency process and it seemed like they had a pretty good plan for me with what it was going to be like coming back from Japan.
“They really sold me on the plan they had with this team, and the development of the young guys. You could see it with all the young studs they have.”
Traveling these runways often leads to players earning more playing time, or a set spot. See shortstop Colson Montgomery -- who overcame prolonged Minor League struggles to hit 21 homers in 71 big league games as a rookie last year -- or right-hander Smith, who went from the top pick in the ‘24 Rule 5 Draft to a ‘25 All-Star.
One major difference this season is a winning component being added to these chances.
“Going into September, if we are competing -- if we are still in the race early September, late August -- and we are having the opportunities to make moves and get to a spot where we can go and compete for a playoff spot, I would be very happy,” Martin said. “There’s a standard we need to hit every time we go out there, which is really exciting.”