Despite Chicago’s continued offensive woes, the pitching staff sets the tone with their mound mastery
With their loss to the San Diego Padres this afternoon, the White Sox dropped to 0-5 on the spring. While the offense continues to be frustrating, today’s story was the promise of the pitchers.
Sean Burke started on the bump for the Good Guys, displaying some electric breaking stuff in his two innings of work. Despite a two-out double surrendered on a slider that lacked its usual bite and an unearned run stemming from a misplayed grounder by Miguel Vargas, Burke’s overall performance was solid.
The White Sox offense again struggled to find its rhythm, accumulating only two hits and going down in order in the second, third, and eighth innings. The Palentine Pounder, Mike Tauchman, scored Chicago’s lone run on a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Vaughn had the other knock, his first of the spring, a single in the bottom of the fourth.
In the third inning, GM Chris Getz, during an in-game interview, laid out the team’s three key areas of focus for the upcoming season: baserunning, defensive runs saved, and catching, with a particular emphasis on pitch framing.
Ironically, with Getz still in the booth, the team’s defensive efforts were immediately put to the test, and not in a positive way. In the top of the third, Bryce Wilson, relieving Burke, took a comebacker off his shoulder. Korey Lee’s subsequent throw to first went awry, allowing Jake Cronenworth to reach second on the error.
However, a bright spot emerged for weary fans in the fifth inning with the spring training debut of highly touted prospect Noah Schultz. Facing the minimum, Schultz showcased his impressive sinker, topping out at 98.4 mph and inducing a slick double play.
Southpaw Hagen Smith also impressed, getting himself out of a jam in the sixth. Despite a leadoff single and yet another throwing error, Smith relied on his fastball, which sat between 96.1 and 98.2 mph, to strike out three and escape the inning with minimal damage.
While yet another loss is ultimately inconsequential in the grand scheme of spring training, it highlighted the continued challenges facing the White Sox. The errors, particularly the one leading to an unearned run, underscored the importance of Getz’s emphasis on defensive improvement. The offensive struggles also served as a reminder of the work still needed to build a consistent lineup that can drive in runs. Moving forward, winning baseball games will be awfully difficult if they can’t score any runs.