GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Despite nearly getting taken out by a Matt Skole line drive whipping by his ear, White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech was happy with his live bullpen session thrown Friday at Camelback Ranch.

“Felt good. I’m confident in what I’m doing right now, and I feel I’m pretty close to being where I need to be,” Kopech said. “But at the same time, I feel there’s pitches that need to be executed better. Fortunately for me, that was only my second live BP, so I have time to make some adjustments.

“At the end of the day, it’s me trying to fit into a plan to make the team better collectively. And if that’s not starting with the team right away, then I’m OK with that, too. I just need to do what’s in the best interest of me and the team.”

Kopech is pitching without restrictions after recovering from Tommy John surgery in September 2018. But the White Sox are still being cautious with MLB Pipeline's No. 20 prospect, who has only four big league starts behind him.

Live BP sessions and bullpens have been laid out for Kopech, and he figures to get into Cactus League action in March. Kopech won’t be breaking camp with the team, staying away from the usual cold Midwest weather in April.

“Ultimately, my goal is to be able to go deep into games for 30 starts a season,” Kopech said. “Now obviously, I haven’t had the experience of doing that to the extent that I want to, especially at the big league level. But that’s the point of what my entire rehab process was, to build me up to where I’m going to be able to take that kind of workload.”

“We are very optimistic about where he’s at,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “We will allow him to continue to pitch and get some innings under his belt and I’m sure first year after coming from the surgery that there are parameters we want to stay within. It will be still a very optimistically guarded approach to where he’s at.”

White Sox open Saturday, weather permitting
Cactus League action is scheduled to begin for the White Sox on Saturday afternoon against the Angels at Camelback Ranch with a 2 p.m. CT first pitch.

A "weather permitting" caveat should be added to this excitement, with a rainy forecast for the Phoenix area. But come rain or shine, Reynaldo López is ready to work as the scheduled first White Sox starter in Cactus League action.

“If it’s rain and the game gets postponed, I’m still going to do my job in the cages or something. We’ll figure out something for me to do,” said Lopez through interpreter Billy Russo. “The results I’m looking for right now is just to be more consistent with all my pitches. That’s what matters for me.”

Luis Robert will be the White Sox leadoff hitter for Game 1, a fact Renteria shared with the media Friday before even telling the rookie. Renteria talked Thursday of employing Tim Anderson and Yoán Moncada in some order at the top of the lineup, and Robert’s presence against the Angels doesn’t indicate a change in philosophy.

“It’s not something I want to lock myself into,” Renteria said. “We have enough guys who have worked at the top of the order and have the experience up there right now.

“We want to make sure to give him an opportunity to transition, unless your eyes tell you something different and gives you the ability to obviously be able to make some adjustments with what they are doing at the moment. Luis looks very comfortable in many respects.”

If the weather holds Saturday, look for position players to play four or five innings or a couple of at-bats.

Third to first
Lucas Giolito will throw a side session on Saturday, marking his first time off the mound during Spring Training. The All-Star was slowed at the outset by a chest muscle strain near his right ribcage.

The 2020 White Sox media guide has its first two pages dedicated to Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson, the long-time television play-by-play voice and 2020 Ford C. Frick winner. The cover shows 11 key players along with Renteria.

They said it
“Ever since he was our bench coach, even before that, his reputation in the game, we knew he was capable of being a World Series championship manager. It was never a guy in our opinion who was simply going to get us from A to B and we would have to find someone else to help us win a championship.” --White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, on Renteria

“I haven’t seen that kind of real-time feedback in a long time, and that’s about as real-time as it gets. That’s what you want to experience, to see if you can get somebody or if he can get you. And he got me.” --Kopech, on almost getting hit by Skole