Here are four takeaways from Chicago White Sox summer training camp Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
1. Lucas Giolito emphasized his curveball during the intrasquad game.
Lucas Giolito described his four-inning outing as “solid.” He allowed one unearned run on two hits, struck out four and walked one. The run, both hits and the walk all came in the first inning. Giolito retired the final nine batters he faced.
“Only thing I’m harping on is the first inning,” he said. “(I’ve) got to come out with a little bit more sense of urgency. A little better rhythm and tempo, which we did find going into the second, third and fourth innings.”
The emphasis was on his breaking ball, with Giolito calling it his “curveball practice day.”
“Just throwing a lot more curveballs than I usually would in a start and in counts that I usually wouldn’t throw them,” he said. “I thought the way I was throwing my heater and my changeup was one of those days where I could really rely on just those two pitches to get through the outing.
“(Catcher Yasmani Grandal) wanted to have an emphasis on the breaking ball and mixing more of those in, so that’s what we did.”
While the Sox will be without Michael Kopech, who decided not to play this season for personal reasons, Giolito likes how the depth of the pitching staff is shaping up.
He expressed support for Kopech when asked about the pitcher’s decision.
“We as a team, as an organization, especially us as players, we support Michael in everything he’s going through,” Giolito said. “It’s just one of those things where he doesn’t feel comfortable being here, and it’s a very strange season to begin with. He’s not the only player (in the majors) to opt out.
“It (stinks) not having him. But he’s going to come back strong, ready to compete next season. We just keep moving forward.”
2. The White Sox put in extra work on the new extra-innings format.
The Sox got a preview of baseball’s new format for extra innings, beginning the top of the sixth with a runner on second base.
“I’m from the old-school mentality of letting it all play out,” interim manager Joe McEwing said of the new rule. “But if we’re put in a situation, we’re going to work on it.”
Luis Alexander Basabe was tasked with trying to get a bunt down against Jimmy Cordero. When it didn’t work out, the Sox placed the runner on third and brought in the infield with Nick Madrigal at the plate. Madrigal hit a hard liner to second baseman Leury Garcia for an out.
Reliever Steve Cishek entered and faced the left-handed-hitting Nicky Delmonico. In a game situation, the Sox might have pitched around the lefty to get to a righty-righty matchup. But they let the action play out, and Delmonico came through with a hit.
“We were very fortunate to be able to create those scenarios and work on it,” McEwing said.
3. Catcher Yermin Mercedes is getting a look at multiple positions.
Yermin Mercedes made a nice sliding catch on an Eloy Jimenez line drive Sunday.
“Yeah, he was laughing,” Mercedes said of Jimenez’s reaction. “I said, ‘The ball was coming at me like a knuckleball, so I didn’t see the ball better.’
“We were just joking around. We’re having fun every day — that’s what I want to do.”
Principally a catcher, Mercedes has also started at third base and left field during the intrasquad games. He showed nice reflexes at third when snagging a line drive by Luis Robert on Thursday. But he made two errors at third Monday.
“I’m comfortable at every position,” Mercedes said. “My first position right now is catcher. I’m working at third and in left and I feel comfortable. I just want to make little adjustments and continue working hard. If they need me at catcher, third, left, I’m here.”
4. Andrew Vaughn is soaking up all he can in camp.
Andrew Vaughn noticed fellow first baseman Jose Abreu had on a traditional glove instead of a first base mitt while fielding grounders.
“It helps him with glove control, using a smaller glove,” Vaughn said in a conference call Monday. “So I was like, OK, I am going to try using it, and I can see the correlation. It makes you more hand-eye coordinated and move to the ball quicker.”
Vaughn, ranked by MLB.com as the No. 2 prospect in the organization, is soaking up all he can from the veterans during summer camp.
“You get to be around seasoned veterans at the major-league level, how they go about their business, taking batting practice, how they go into a game. (It) gives me things to pull from them,” said Vaughn, the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft. “Talking to (Abreu), (Edwin) Encarnacion, (Yasmani) Grandal, (James) McCann, just learning everything I can and trying to better myself and help the team.”
Vaughn had a productive spring training with a .304 batting average, one home run and five RBIs in 13 Cactus League games. He has extended that to summer camp, hitting a solo home run Sunday and going 1-for-2 with a walk Monday.
