Tag: Chicago White Sox

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Garrett Crochet strikes out three in second spring training appearance

Former Vol Garrett Crochet strikes out three in second spring training appearance.

Los Angeles defeated Chicago, 3-1, on Sunday in spring training.

The contest between the Angeles and White Sox took place at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

Former Vol Garrett Crochet pitched two innings for Chicago. He recorded three strikeouts against seven batters. Crochet did not allow a hit, run or walk.

Sunday’s appearance was Crochet’s second in spring training. He pitched 1.2 innings, recording two strikeouts, while allowing two hits and zero runs against the Dodgers on Feb. 27.

Crochet was selected by the White Sox in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft (No. 11 overall).

He played for the Vols from 2018-20, appearing in 36 games. The former Vol was 10-9 and recorded 149 strikeouts during his career at Tennessee.

The new Chicago White Sox stadium renderings addressed one of the team’s biggest mistakes

An outfield with a view might finally be possible for the Sox

Should the Chicago White Sox leave Guaranteed Rate Field when their lease is up in five years — and should the team choose to remain on Chicago’s South Side — a newly released rendering has provided an initial glimpse of what a new downtown ballpark could look like.

The Sox have held “serious talks” about moving to a new location along the Chicago River. The stretch of land is mostly barren at the moment, but promises to become The 78, a new neighborhood development.

The plan from Related Midwest would also see the team’s current stadium redeveloped into a new home for the MLS’ Chicago Fire.

Per the Chicago Sun-Times, Related Midwest believes the development would feature a $9 billion investment, an economic impact of $4 billion per year, at least 10,000 construction jobs, at least 22,000 permanent jobs and 1,000 affordable housing units.

The stadium renderings also show the Sox correcting one of the biggest mistakes made during construction of their current stadium: facing the park away from Chicago’s iconic skyline.

The Willis Tower (née Sears Tower) is visible over the outfield in these drawings. The new stadium also sees culturally historic elements of the current and former homes of the White Sox incorporated, including the pinwheels and exploding scoreboard.

There is still a long, long, long way to go here, but the vision itself is one that should be easy for Sox fans to rally behind.

Former LSU baseball player Bryce Collins signs with White Sox

Another player from LSU’s 2023 title team was signed this week with Bryce Collins joining the White Sox.

A former LSU pitcher found a professional home this week when [autotag]Bryce Collins[/autotag] joined the Chicago White Sox organization.

Collins spent two years at LSU after beginning his career at Arizona and was a member of the 2023 national team.

Collins is yet another player from the 2023 championship team to join a professional organization.

Coming out of high school, Collins was originally selected by the Minnesota Twins before electing to go the college route. He only threw 22.1 innings at Arizona before an injury cost him two years.

In 2022, Collins threw 32.1 innings at LSU to the tune of a 3.62 ERA. In his career at LSU, he averaged over 10 strikeouts per nine, but struggled to command the ball, issuing 36 walks in 49 innings.

LSU coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] took to social media to congratulate Collins.

Collins finished his collegiate career with 71.1 innings, 72 strikeouts, and five wins. He becomes the lone former Tiger to join the White Sox organization.

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Jason Benetti joining the Detroit Tigers’ booth is the latest gut-punch for White Sox fans

The White Sox keep finding new ways to torture their fans

All summer long on the South Side of Chicago, the cries for Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the White Sox grew louder and louder in the very literal sense.

The latest decision to let beloved play-by-play man Jason Benetti go should make those cries even louder.

The sentiment has been there for years, of course, but beginning with the ill-fated decision to hire his old pal Tony La Russa to guide the team’s equally ill-fated rebuild to the finish line, chants of “Sell the team!” had become as much of a tradition at Guaranteed Rate Field as the seventh inning stretch or fireworks after home runs.

Fans paid for billboards outside the park and flew banners inside it demanding Reinsdorf just give it up already. The 87-year-old seems to have taken that as a challenge.

You think you have it bad, now? You think our decision-making is problematic? Just wait.

Here’s your new general manager, Chris Getz, a man who failed so poorly at developing a farm system for the White Sox that he could only fall up.

Don’t like that? Don’t worry, Getz is poaching from the Kansas City Royals — the only franchise more woebegone than Chicago in the American League Central — to advise him.

Still not done complaining? Ok, say goodbye to Tim Anderson. We’ll dump him without even trying to learn if his bad 2023 was an aberration or see if there’s trade interest for him at any point next year. Dylan Cease is on the block, too.

The war of attrition took a drastic turn on Thursday morning when the team announced Benetti is leaving to join the booth of the rival Detroit Tigers.

Benetti is a born-and-raised South Sider. A man who grew up rooting for the White Sox and someone who instantly engaged fans with intelligent discussion, silly antics and fun brain teasers that made tuning into games worth it — even when there was no reason to care about the players on the field.

When Hawk Harrelson retired, landing Benetti felt like a godsend. He was the complete opposite of a broadcaster who had become more catchphrase than person. Someone who revived Steve Stone in the analyst seat next to him and proved the former Cy Young winner could still have fun at the ballpark. Benetti knew, above all else, the show was not about him and yet he still found a way to elevate every major moment.

The final outs of no-hitters thrown by Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodón immediately come to mind. So do the less extraordinary accomplishments throughout the season, like when another Luis Robert Jr. robbery in centerfield was met with “Outrageous, 88!”.

Even spring training games were worth tuning into when Benetti was on the call. As his national profile grew stronger with gigs calling college football and basketball, the Olympics and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, it was impossible not for Sox fans to feel a sense of pride.

“He’s ours.”

Now, he’s theirs. A damn Detroit Tiger.

How much worse can it get for Chicago? The limit does not exist.

Hell, at a sports business conference in Los Angeles, Reinsdorf got up on stage admitted the best strategy was to just be decent until September to keep fans coming out. He ranted about being at the mercy of the “dumbest” owners around the league who had the audacity to spend money on quality players.

If we’re being completely honest. the clock is ticking on Reinsdorf’s tenure whether he sells or not. He’s 87, remember.

The real shame of it is that when that day does come, when the Sox broadcast clicks on for the first time without Reinsdorf occupying the owner’s booth, they’re going to want to have someone with heart summarize the highs and lows, the World Series and rebuilds and the muscle of Reinsdorf on those few days when he did care.

No one was better suited for the job than Jason Benetti.

Tim Anderson is a free agent as the Chicago White Sox recommit to losing

The Tim Anderson era in Chicago is over

The height of the success for the Chicago White Sox over the last decade or so came during the inaugural Field of Dreams game in 2021.

Trailing the New York Yankees by one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tim Anderson stepped to the plate with one on, one out and launched the first pitch he saw from Zack Britton deep into the Iowa corn fields, screaming “it’s over” as he rounded the bases.

Well, it certainly is now.

The White Sox officially parted ways with Anderson on Saturday, declining the $14 million club option on his contract and making the two-time All-Star and former batting champion a free agent.

This is as much as a surprise as it isn’t.

Anderson is coming off a career-worst season in which he slashed .245/.286/.296 with one home run in 123 games. The final image of him in Chicago will likely be either getting knocked out by Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez or the tabloid-like interest in his personal life.

He was the face of a much-hyped (and ultimately disastrous) White Sox rebuild. Someone who was at times touted as the future face of baseball and was routinely accused of disrespecting the game.

Now Anderson is available for any number of contenders and rising clubs to sign a bit below market value to resurrect his career ahead of his age 31 season.

He’ll instantly be considered one of the top shortstops on the market considering his ceiling and, well, the rest of the available free agents at the position. Javier Baez, Brandon Crawford, Amed Rosario and Nick Ahmed don’t really move the needle like they once did.

Which doesn’t really let the White Sox off the hook here, either. There are no clear upgrades they could sign. Certainly no one who already has a connection with the South Side like Anderson does.

Anderson will be better off. He’ll likely land with a team that has a trustworthy coaching staff, strong clubhouse culture and a history of winning. Essentially everything the White Sox do not have.

Chicago, led now by general manager Chris Getz, will continue to mold themselves into the new Kansas City Royals by poaching every coach and player from a franchise that’s been irrelevant since winning the World Series in 2015.

Look no further than the team’s reported interest in catcher Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield. Cutting Anderson is only further evidence of Getz’ desire to add the 33-year-old Perez, since there’s very little chance those two  could exist in the same clubhouse.

These are not the moves of a serious team looking to avoiding another full rebuild. This is exactly what you do to build the foundation for a tank job. It’s hard to view the Anderson decision as anything else.

More than anything else, it’s a warning sign.

It’s going to be another long summer on the South Side next year. But Sox fans will have to endure a much longer winter first.

MLB fan made a barehanded home run catch while holding his nachos and didn’t spill a drop of cheese

How did he catch this?!?!

The MLB might want to take a look at this Cleveland Guardians fan who made one of the best catches you’re likely to see this season.

During the Oakland A’s 8-5 win over the hosting Chicago White Sox on Thursday night, A’s outfielder Brent Rooker knocked a 418-feet homer out of the diamond and into the White Sox stands.

The ball went flying toward the Guardians fan (who must’ve just wanted to take in some baseball that night), who snagged the ball with one bare hand while holding a plate of nachos.

Yes, seriously, this is what happened, and the guy didn’t spill a single chip.

Rooker’s hit had an exit velocity of 103.8 mph, which makes this fan’s one-handed snag even more impressive.

Like, c’mon, this is ridiculous. He didn’t lose a single chip! Not one!

This guy clearly has some baseball experience in his past. Even if he doesn’t, this guy might get a spring training invitation for some team if he keeps making grabs like this when he attends baseball games.

MLB fans mocked the White Sox after Luis Castillo shut them down with 47 straight fastballs

No respect for the White Sox at all.

There arguably isn’t a more difficult task in all of professional sports than hitting big-league pitching. In today’s MLB, batters are facing pitchers who throw around triple digits with intense movement and devastating breaking balls. It seems impossible.

But that task becomes demonstrably easier when you know what pitch is coming. After all, it’s why MLB had a whole scandal about sign stealing.

That’s what made Luis Castillo’s Monday night outing so remarkably embarrassing for the Chicago White Sox hitters. Castillo decided that he was going to completely abandon his breaking pitches (slider and changeup) and only throw fastballs from the fourth inning on.

And guess what? It worked!

Castillo threw 47 straight fastballs against the White Sox. From the fourth inning through the seventh inning, the White Sox only managed two hits and no runs despite almost certainly picking up on the trend. They knew a fastball was coming, and they simply could not make Castillo pay for it.

Castillo ended up striking out nine hitters in seven innings and allowed five hits.

The glorified bullpen session turned into a 14-2 White Sox loss, and fans roasted the White Sox for getting shut down by 47 straight fastballs.

Marcus Freeman fourth on list of coaches most likely to win in a fight

Don’t mess with him.

Fighting in sports seems to be on a lot of people’s brains lately. Those of us in the Chicago area who regrettably cheer for the struggling White Sox still are reeling from Jose Ramirez knocking down Tim Anderson recently. The memes and shade that came from it are another chapter in a season no one in the fan base wants to remember.

This may or may not be related to the latest list from Big Game Boomer, social media’s college football chart and list aficionado. He decided to list college football’s top 50 coaches who would win in a fight, and [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] was ranked fourth:

Hopefully, we don’t have to see Freeman fight anybody as it would give Notre Dame some unwanted attention and subject it to ridicule. But the 6-foot-1 coach’s playing weight as an Ohio State linebacker was 240 pounds. That is not a build anyone in their right mind wants to mess with.

So if you happen to see Freeman somewhere, don’t say or do anything to make him test what he truly is capable of. You’re going to have a really bad time if you do. No one wants to be the next Tim Anderson right now.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

The White Sox deny leaving Keynan Middleton’s name off scoreboard deliberately after he criticized the team’s culture

Was this deliberate? The White Sox say no.

When it came to accusations of the Chicago White Sox having a culture problem, former reliever Keynan Middleton was the first to speak up.

After he was traded to the New York Yankees, he said that “we came in with no rules,” mentioning that rookies were sleeping in the bullpen during games and so on. Current and former teammates went back and forth about whether it was all true or not.

Now that you’re caught up: Middleton came in to pitch on Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field. A fan noticed Middleton’s name wasn’t on the scoreboard, and what did THAT mean?

The White Sox denied it was any kind of shot at him: