GLENDALE, Ariz. — Pitchers and catchers reported to Chicago White Sox camp Wednesday. The workout included a live bullpen session from starter Lance Lynn.
Here are three takeaways from the first day of spring training at Camelback Ranch.
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Pedro Grifol was pleased with the first day of his first camp as Sox manager.
“The energy was high,” Grifol said. “We had good meetings as a staff early on to set up the day. We went through our fundamentals and how we’re going to teach them, and the guys went out there and did a nice job and executed what we want to do.”
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Grifol said the focus in the coming days is to get the pitchers and catchers ready.
“Our expectation is to ramp up the energy in the margins,” he said. “Every pitcher in the offseason prepares for delivery, higher spin rate, velocity (and) better shape on breaking balls. Like I told them in there, we need to come out here and attack.
“The good thing is back in the day, guys came to spring training to get in shape. Guys now come to spring training in shape, so these guys were ramping it up pretty good. I was happy with the intensity and effort they gave.”
Grifol takes over after spending the previous 10 seasons in various roles with the Kansas City Royals, including as the bench coach from 2020-22.
“It’s hard for me to do justice to how impressive Pedro and his staff have been over the last few weeks and months,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “We’ve had a few meetings, some out here. He and his staff have been face to face with several players.
“The energy, the focus, the attention to detail has been fantastic to date, and we’re very much looking forward to getting this thing going in earnest.”
Grifol said the more the team practices at game speed, the better.
“This game really speeds up at 7:10 or 1:10,” Grifol said. “The throws are different, the footwork is different, so that’s what we’re going to look at in this camp to stay consistent throughout this season.”
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Hahn said Hendriks has been at the Sox complex “several times” over the last few weeks. The closer announced in early January he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“We spoke face to face again (Tuesday) — he’s in very good spirits,” Hahn said. “He continues to progress with his treatment; however, as we mentioned at the time when his diagnosis was revealed publicly, we still don’t expect to have any update on his availability or plan for the season until closer to opening day.
“I want to reiterate and respect Liam’s wishes that Liam likely won’t be available publicly until closer to opening day once we have a little more firm understanding of what lies ahead for him.”
Grifol said it’s a little too early to discuss how the bullpen might shape up, but he and Hahn like the options.
“I do feel, from a back-end standpoint, we’ve got a lot of quality options back there,” Hahn said. “I think this is going to be a really big year for Reynaldo López. I love the way he’s taken to that role the last couple years, and he has the stuff to be a dominant late-inning guy.
“(Kendall) Graveman’s done it before, Joe Kelly’s been back there, (Aaron) Bummer. We’ll know more about Liam’s timeline later in camp. And we foresee (Garrett) Crochet being added to that mix not too deep into the season as well.”
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Crochet missed the 2022 season after suffering an elbow injury in spring training that required Tommy John surgery.
The left-hander was an important part of the bullpen after joining the team in 2020, a few months after he was drafted. He built on that role in 2021. Now he’s on the road toward contributing again.
“He’s progressing quite well,” Hahn said. “We view him as continuing to build during camp. He will not appear in Cactus League games. However, we suspect he’ll be on a rehab assignment sometime in April with the possibility of rejoining the club, if everything goes smoothly, sometime in approximately mid-May.”
