Not a warm opening homestand
4 takeaways from White Sox’s 1-4 start
“Fairy tales can come true, they can happen to you,” Frank Sinatra sang over the speakers in the Chicago White Sox clubhouse Wednesday morning.
But the fairy tale of the Sox being able to play through rain and snow did not come true, and Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves was postponed because of the inclement weather forecast throughout the day.
The game will be made up on June 27 at Guaranteed Rate Field with a 3:10 p.m. start time.
The Sox finished their opening homestand with a 1-4 record. Here are four takeaways as they head out on a seven-game road trip to Kansas City and Cleveland.
Can Garrett Crochet be an innings eater?:
Crochet earned his first win as a starter Tuesday with seven dominant innings against the Braves, and he led the American League with 13 innings after his first two starts — a position he's unlikely to maintain in his first season as a starter.
It's not that Crochet couldn't pitch in the 200-inning range with his stuff but whether the Sox would let him extend himself after throwing only 25 combined innings in 2023 in the minors and with the Sox in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
Crochet said Wednesday he doesn't feel as though he needs any limitations.
“Not in my mind,” he said. “That's the whole point of the five-day rotation. I can just gather
myself in between (starts) and the workload I can kind of monitor. I control that myself, where in the past it was a little tougher to do that.”
The Sox don't have proven innings eaters in the rotation, though Erick Fedde threw 180 innings last season in the Korean league. Chris Flexen pitched 179 innings in 2021 for the Seattle Mariners. Michael Soroka threw 32 innings last year for the Braves after missing all of 2021 and ‘22.
The lack of starters who can chew up innings was one reason for the late agreement to bring back Mike Clevinger in spite of the expected negative fan reaction. Major League Baseball last winter investigated allegations of domestic violence and child abuse by Clevinger but did
not impose discipline.
“He was really solid for us last year, and that's a guy you kind of know what you're going to get every time out,” Crochet said. “He threw two complete games for us last year and they both came at a time we really needed them. A bunch of us are looking forward to having him back and getting that production out of him.”
The Sox have yet to make the signing official, but manager Pedro Grifol was enthused by the move.
“Clev was a really good teammate here,” Grifol said Tuesday. “He pitched really good baseball for us last year. He's a really good competitor. So we'll see how it all plays out, but he certainly has some attributes that we saw last year that were on point to who we are and where we want to go.”
Getting on base a work in progress: The Sox entered Wednesday last in the majors in batting average (.181) and on-base percentage (.244). They've coaxed 11 walks in the first five games.
Asked if he was OK with his hitters' approaches at the plate, Grifol replied: “I'm OK with the work and improvement that we're intending to make, and our guys are working on it.
“The results are not there yet. I think our guys are working on the right stuff with the right intent. … I see the work, I've seen the improvement, I see the intent and I'm happy with it.”
No rush to name a 5th starter:
Dominic Leone was scheduled to be the opener Wednesday before the game was postponed. Soroka was slated to start Thursday in Kansas City.
The Sox still haven't named a fifth starter and don't seem to be in a hurry to do so without any reason. The weather has allowed them to go with four starters so far.
“We have options,” Grifol said Wednesday. “We've been sorting through this for quite some time now. We've just got to wait and see how today plays out and weather and all kinds of stuff. We'll make those moves when we feel it's necessary.”
Nick Nastrini was scheduled to start for Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday and could be one of those options.
“We have starting pitching depth,” Grifol said without naming names. “At some point they've got to come up here and taste it and get evaluated to see where they're at.
“We'll see. It's a really good feeling to look at your depth chart and say, ‘OK, we have some options and they're good options.'”
Eloy Jiménez might be back soon:
Jiménez took batting practice Wednesday and was feeling better but wasn't ready to return from his sore left adductor. Grifol said it's possible Jiménez could play in the Royals series.
With his history of injuries, why not be precautionary and place Jiménez on the 10-day injured list to ensure he's healthy?
“What's not out there is how bad it really is” for Jimenez, Grifol said. “We have to go on what he is feeling and what our doctors are saying and what our trainers are saying. If we feel that he can get back before the 10 days, then that's what it is.”
Grifol said the Sox trust the medical opinions and “we trust Eloy.”