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Chicago Tribune
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Cactus League report: Cubs and White Sox will finalize rosters as camp closes — and the Sox approach opening day
It's 'go time' for the Chicago White Sox and 'take two' for the Chicago Cubs. The White Sox have several roster decisions to make ahead of Thursday's season opener against the Los Angeles Angels at Rate Field. Nagging injuries to the likes of infielder Josh Rojas (hairline fracture in his big right toe) add wrinkles to the process. The Cubs have a couple of decisions as well after opening the season with two losses in Japan, notably whether to keep Vidal Bruján or Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman as the extra infielder and Brad Keller in the bullpen. Tyson Miller's injury should open the door for Keller, and the Cubs should make their final decision on Bruján or Workman soon. 'I don't think we have to (wait long),' manager Craig Counsell said. 'It's a time of roster activity around the industry, so you do tend to wait because of that, right? Every Monday during spring training, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what's ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox. Want more baseball news? Sign up for our Cubs Insider and White Sox Insider. Cubs can't stop praising Tokyo The trip to Tokyo left a lasting impression on the Cubs players and Counsell, from the 40,000-plus fans on hand for batting practice to the presence of Shohei Ohtani's face wherever they went. 'I assumed he'd be everywhere, and he is,' Dansby Swanson said. 'He's like our Michael Jordan, the craze and the popularity and the desire to want to get a glimpse of him. The whole thing, it's pretty cool.' The Japanese traditions, like singing and chanting, were very different from what most major league players are used to, except perhaps for the Latin Americans. 'The exhibitions games (against Japanese teams) were really fun, and a great time to see how fans interact with their teams,' Ian Happ said. 'It was a little different for the Dodgers-Cubs games. I think they were trying to be respectful of Major League Baseball, so it was a different atmosphere. It was amazing how much the fan base loves the (Japanese) players that come over (to the United States). 'Baseball is so big over there, even for us. People outside the hotel wanting autographs, and in the exhibition games there were even some signs for me, which was pretty amazing.' How do the Japanese teams compare with the majors? 'There is obviously a lot of talent over there and guys that can really play,' Swanson said. 'The fundamental side of things, they're just as good as anybody over here. The biggest thing you'd have to do to create an even comparison is the ball, which obviously is different. But I have no doubt there are plenty of guys over there that could play over here.' Sox prospects, including 2024 first-round pick Hagen Smith, took a lot away from the spring. Several prominent members of the Sox future got their first taste of major-league camp for a portion of this spring. That includes pitchers Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz, who were eventually reassigned to minor-league camp on March 6. The left-handers achieved another first on Saturday, starting both parts of split-squad games. Smith, the team's first-round pick in 2024, allowed six runs (five earned) on three hits with five walks and one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners at Camelback Ranch. 'Body felt good, just mechanics again, kind of something off,' Smith said after the game. 'Just kind of missing with my fastball. I don't usually do that, but it's all right. 'Something in the lower half just messes everything up.' Schultz also displayed some wildness Saturday, allowing three runs (two earned) on one hit with five walks and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields. Smith made three Cactus League appearances (one start), finishing with an 8.44 ERA, five strikeouts and eight walks in 5 1/3 innings. Schultz, the team's first-round pick in 2022 from Oswego East, also had three Cactus League outings (one start). He had a 3.86 ERA, four strikeouts and eight walks in 4 2/3 innings. Smith took plenty away from the entire spring experience. 'It was awesome to be in big-league camp, obviously didn't throw the way I wanted to,' he said. 'Could have thrown way better, should have thrown way better. But it's all right. Hopefully next year I'll get the same opportunity and do better.' Smith is excited for whatever minor-league assignment is ahead. 'Looking forward to getting better,' Smith said. 'I have a lot to improve on, obviously. Just go out there and try to improve and get better every week.' Number of the week: .172 The Cubs batting average off Los Angeles Dodgers pitching in the two-game series in Tokyo. Week ahead: Cubs Monday: vs. Braves, 3:05 p.m. Tuesday: vs. Braves, 3:05 p.m. (Cactus League finale) Wednesday: off Thursday: at Diamondbacks, 9:10 p.m. (domestic opening day) Friday: at Diamondbacks, 8:40 p.m. Saturday: at. Diamondbacks, 7:10 p.m. Sunday: at Diamondbacks, 3:10 p.m. After the Dodgers series, the Cubs start with another big test in Arizona, including opening day starter Corbin Burnes. Chairman Tom Ricketts conceded the Cubs are the team to beat in the National League Central. 'That's fair,' Counsell said. 'I agree in the sense that our expectations should always be (to make) the playoffs.' Jameson Taillon, who starts Game 2 in Arizona on Friday, said it's probably better to start by facing some of the league's elite teams. 'You see it in college football sometimes,' he said. 'Some teams will have like easy-cake schedules and stomp people. And then when they get tested, it's like, 'Oh, (bleep),' we have a lot to work on. Then you also see teams that test themselves early and might lose a close game and then really get a lot better for it as the season goes on. We have the opportunity to show, one, that we can play with these teams, and also, if anything gets exposed early, I'd rather have it now than later so you can address it and clean it up.' Counsell declined to reveal his feelings on the strength of the NL Central, which is not considered one of the better divisions with ongoing rebuilds in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and few key additions by St. Louis or Milwaukee. 'Prognosticating that stuff is somewhat useless,' he said. 'I don't think it's weaker is the best way to say it. There certainly are some strengths with every team and some weaknesses with every team, just as every team has… except for maybe one.' That one, of course, is the Dodgers. Week ahead: White Sox Monday: vs. Athletics, 2:05 p.m. (Cactus League finale) Tuesday: off Wednesday: off Thursday: vs. Angels, 3:10 p.m. (opening day) Friday: off Saturday: vs. Angels, 1:10 p.m. Sunday: vs. Angels, 1:10 p.m. Andrew Vaughn always looks forward to the atmosphere of opening day. 'Everybody's excited — players, fans, everybody involved,' Vaughn told the Tribune on Saturday. 'It's kind of like that first day of school feeling — it really is. 'Getting back and getting to represent the city is always special.' The Sox wrap up spring training with Monday's Cactus League finale against the Athletics at Camelback Ranch. Opening day is Thursday against the Angels at Rate Field. Vaughn said the biggest goals during camp for hitters are getting the timing back, seeing pitching and preparing to withstand a full season. 'It definitely takes a few at-bats,' Vaughn said. 'You can do everything in the offseason — cage stuff, BP. But you've really got to get in the box and face live pitchers. Once you get a few at-bats under your belt, it starts to form back together.' The next step is taking the work from Glendale to Chicago. 'The spring has been good,' Vaughn said. 'I've seen a lot of good baseball from everybody. It's been great. 'Definitely excited to get to Chicago. It's going to be a little chilly, that's for sure. Definitely a weather change. Very excited for that (start to the season).' What we're reading Quotable 'He had a great day and I was able to apply the spring training rule of 'If you hit two homers you're done playing.' That's the rule for everybody but Pete (Crow-Armstrong).' — Craig Counsell on Seiya Suzuki's two home runs Saturday in his first two at-bats.
New York Times
17-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What I learned from scouting Rockies-White Sox, Reds-Brewers Spring Breakout Games
PHOENIX — On Sunday, I caught a Spring Breakout Game double-header, as the Colorado Rockies took on the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds faced the Milwaukee Brewers. Below are observations from both games The Colorado Rockies-Chicago White Sox spring breakout game was dominated by pitching with neither team getting a hit until the bottom of the fourth inning. The final score was 3-1 with hitters reaching base less than 25 percent of the time. Advertisement The most impressive pitcher was easily Rockies right-hander Brody Brecht, Colorado's second overall pick in 2024, who threw an effortless 95-97 mph in his one inning with a slider at 87-88. The former Iowa starting pitcher and wide receiver had trouble with control as an amateur, so it was good to see him throw a perfect inning with seven of his 10 pitches going for strikes. It is a tiny sample, but the Rockies knew he was a project when they drafted him. Both his delivery and his slider looked better on Sunday than they did when I saw him with Iowa. He's got a very wide variance in potential outcomes, but if you told me that in June we'd be calling him the Rockies' best pitching prospect, I would be zero percent surprised. The White Sox rolled out their two big lefties to start the game in Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz, with each tossing two hitless innings. Smith was 92-97 with four pitches, the slider above-average at 78-82 and the changeup a little too firm at 88, with below-average command on the day. Schultz was 93-94 on the four-seamer and threw what I believe was a sinker at 89-90 along with three other pitches, showing some good feel for the changeup. He pounded the zone, especially with the fastball, even though his release point seemed to waver across all of those pitch types. The Rockies made an announcement in July 2023 that three of their top pitching prospects were all undergoing Tommy John surgery, and two of those guys pitched in the Breakout Game. Righty Gabriel Hughes started and was 92-93 on the two-seamer with a 55 slider (on the 20-80 scouting scale) at 86-88 and a hard changeup at 85-88 that you could see him turn over — and I assume hitters could see it too. The fastball velocity is lower than it was pre-surgery and I think his slot might be a few ticks higher. The second, right-hander Jordy Vargas, threw an inning later in the game and was 91-94 with a big, loopy curveball, retiring three batters on 13 pitches, most of them fastballs. The third was right-hander Jackson Cox, who didn't pitch in the Breakout Game, but I was told by a scout that Cox's velocity is back while his command isn't. Advertisement The one big hit of the day came from Rockies second baseman Adael Amador, who got a hanging breaking ball from right-hander Riley Gowens and saw it all the way, knocking it over the right field fence. It was an awful pitch, but Amador has proven over the last year or so that if you make a mistake up in the zone, he will recognize it and pummel it. He also drew a walk, which is his other superpower. The White Sox lineup managed just three hits, led by a double that catcher Edgar Quero hit the other way past a shifted third baseman off a 96-mph fastball on the inner third while he was batting left-handed. He also flashed a plus arm multiple times, catching two of four would-be basestealers. Outfielder George Wolkow had a very hard-hit line-drive single to center off a 95 mph fastball that came after he'd whiffed on two straight sliders at his back foot. (Let's just say there was some very questionable pitch calling on both sides of this game.) His other plate appearance ended with a very high flyout the other way to the left field warning track. Shortstop Colson Montgomery was 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts, whiffing on 94- and 96-mph fastballs up and getting caught looking on a 2-2 fastball right down the middle. He did make an excellent throw from the hole even as his body was taking him the other way. Outfielder Braden Montgomery — no relation — was also 0 for 3, putting the ball in play three times and showing above-average running speed on one groundout, although he didn't react well to breaking stuff from Hughes. White Sox lefty Jake Eder threw an inning in relief, striking out two and walking one, with two above-average pitches in his slider and changeup while his fastball was enough at 93-94. Relief might just be the spot for him, as he has never had close to the command or control to be a starter since he returned from 2022 Tommy John surgery. I left the White Sox/Rockies game a little early to get to the start of the Brewers/Reds Spring Breakout Game, which was the opposite sort of contest; the Reds won 9-7 and it took nearly two hours just to get to the bottom of the fifth. Neither starter threw strikes, and that got everything off on the wrong foot. Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski was 96-98 with a plus slider and power curveball, but he needed 47 pitches to get five outs. I'm going to say, for the 85th time, that he is not a starter, not with that delivery, certainly not with that lack of control. Advertisement The Reds started lefty Adam Serwinowski, whose delivery is even uglier, with a big pause and huge effort to get to 94-97, although he spins a good enough slider that he should crush left-handed batters. He walked a pair and needed 39 pitches to finish his two innings. He was followed by a parade of mostly similar-looking right-handed relievers until the last three innings, when things picked up a little. Righty Cole Schoenwetter, the Reds 2023 fourth-round pick who had a dismal year in 2024, was 94-95 with some potential to the curveball and a changeup that would be good enough if he got more velocity separation. It's a full windup but then some effort in the delivery and a stiff landing, so it's relief all the way. Then it was the big guns, literally: 240ish-pound Luis Mey threw 100-102 mph with a slider at 87-90, and Zach Maxwell, who might weigh three bills at this point, was 98-101 with a slider at 86, and both of those guys threw strikes. The hitters were all fighting at the bat rack in this game. Reds third baseman Sal Stewart was the only player with two hits in the game, including a triple to deep center off a curveball that stayed up a little and later a groundball right back up the box off a fastball. He also made a couple of nice plays at third base. Defense is probably the biggest question about his game, as he could easily end up at first base with that build. Reds shortstop Edwin Arroyo reached base three times, with a walk, a hit by pitch, and a stand-up triple to right-center off a 95-mph fastball, all of which came when he was batting right-handed, before he struck out on a changeup in his last trip to the plate. He took good at bats all day long — and it was a long day. On the Brewers side, outfielder Jose Anderson just turned 18 in November and hasn't played a game outside of the Dominican Summer League yet, but he hit the game's only homer off a hanging breaking ball from right-hander Luke Hayden. Anderson struck out looking on a 94-mph fastball in his only other plate appearance. Shortstop Jesus Made led off and was 1 for 3 with a strikeout; the hit was a soft liner that Reds second baseman Leo Balcazar snagged for what would have been a great play, but he couldn't hold on to it. Based just on two games of seeing Made against good pitching — I saw him the other day against Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Cristian Mena on the back fields — my gut reaction is that he's not ready to go out to low A yet. He won't turn 18 until May and hasn't played outside of the DSL yet either. There's no reason he can't start out in extended spring training and go to the Arizona Complex League for at least a few weeks, even with his tremendous showing in the DSL last summer and the attendant hype that has followed. I don't know what the Brewers' plans are for him; I'm just hoping they take it slow. Right-hander Brett Wichrowski was 93-94 with a slider and changeup that both flashed above-average, along with a curveball that was more of a show-me pitch. It's a rough delivery for a starter and I doubt he'll have the command to stick there, but it's a big-league arsenal already. Also, the Brewers' roster had Misiorowski, Wichrowski, and Josh Adamczewski, while the Reds had Serwinowski Someone needs to start scouting in Poland. Advertisement Brewers right-hander Bishop Letson struggled, retiring one batter and allowing five runs, but the stuff wasn't bad at all — he was 93-96, showing four- and two-seamers, with a slider at 85-86 and changeup at 86. His delivery is pretty good, and he looks athletic, but he didn't have it on Sunday, walking two of the six batters he faced, and an error behind him by Luke Adams seemed to unravel him. Right-hander Craig Yoho was 90-94 with an above-average changeup that wasn't that consistent, finishing his outing with one slider that he back-doored to a lefty for a called third strike. It's a very long arm action with early pronation, coming from a low three-quarters slot, although the changeup should mitigate the platoon-split issues that often come with that release point. It's a 55 changeup, no more, and it's certainly not 'Airbender 2.0.' It was great to see Brock Wilken in the game and taking good at bats. He was hit in the face by a pitch last April and didn't hit well after he returned very quickly despite multiple facial fractures. He walked once and took a slider from a right-hander to left for a line-drive single. Before the Spring Breakout Games, I caught about three innings of a Reds-Dodgers A-ball game on the backfields at Camelback Ranch. Dodgers right-hander Eriq Swan was 95-96 with a plus slider and a hard changeup at 89 with big fading action, but in the second inning he threw two fastballs to the backstop, rubbing and shaking his pitching hand between pitches, and then exited the game. Of course, it's the Dodgers, so the next inning's pitcher was Brooks Auger, who was throwing 96-97 with tremendous ride on the pitch along with a mid-80s slurve that had good tilt to it. The Dodgers took Auger in the sixth round last year off a spring when he was mostly a reliever for Mississippi State in his first year back from Tommy John. He's 23 now and hasn't pitched a ton, but that is a starter look all the way and he might be able to do some fun things with the fastball alone. I was there long enough to get two at-bats apiece from Kellon Lindsey, Chase Harlan, and Joendry Vargas, who batted 1-2-3 in that Dodgers lineup. Lindsey is still very fast and I really want to see if he can hit Low-A breaking stuff. Harlan hits the ball extremely hard; he fouled a ball off the metal fence that was just exceptionally loud, and then struck out. Vargas has a furious swing with great bat speed and doubled off the outfield wall against a lefty (he's a right-handed batter) in his second at-bat after striking out in the first, and he looked fine at shortstop in a brief look with a 50 or 55 arm. (Top photo of Hagen Smith: Tracy Proffitt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
