Eloy Jiménez estimated that it had been 5 years since he final performed proper discipline.
With Andrew Benintendi signed as the brand new Chicago White Sox left fielder, Jiménez is aiming for enjoying time in proper together with seemingly DH duties. He began on the place Saturday.
“It was weird for the first pitch, a little bit nervous,” Jiménez stated. “But after that, it was good.”
Jiménez didn’t have any flyballs hit his approach in his three innings in proper.
Changes have been on full show Saturday at Camelback Ranch. The Sox additionally had a brand new supervisor within the dugout in Pedro Grifol. And the sport was the staff’s first underneath new guidelines, together with a pitch clock.
The Sox opened Cactus League play with a 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres. Gavin Sheets homered to proper within the second and Jake Burger homered to left within the ninth. The contest was accomplished in a crisp 2 hours, 32 minutes.
Here are three takeaways from Sox camp.
1. Lance Lynn felt ‘all the pitches were working.’
Lynn struck out David Dahl and Pedro Severino with runners on the corners to wrap up the primary inning. The Sox starter struck out one batter within the second and another within the third. After permitting three consecutive hits to start the sport, Lynn retired 9 straight.
“All in all the ball was coming out good, all the pitches were working how I wanted them to for the most part,” Lynn stated Saturday. “Now it’s fine-tuning that and building up strength (and) pitch count.”
Lynn allowed one run on three hits with 4 strikeouts and no walks within the three innings. He stated he threw 45 pitches and one other 10 or so within the bullpen afterward.
“I was able to give up a couple of infield knocks and one bad breaking ball for a hit, but it felt normal,” Lynn stated.
The right-hander is gearing up for the season — and the World Baseball Classic.
Lynn is one among three Sox gamers on Team USA, becoming a member of shortstop Tim Anderson and reliever Kendall Graveman. Lynn stated he’s aiming for 2 extra begins with the Sox earlier than reporting to Team USA in early March.
2. Everyone adjusted nicely to the pitch clock.
Jiménez made some changes to his first-inning plate look. Before batting, he would typically greet the plate umpire and opposing catcher with a light-weight faucet of the bat.
“But not anymore,” Jiménez stated.
The modifications include the pitch clock in impact. There’s 30 seconds between batters, 15 seconds between pitches with the bases empty and 20 with runners on base. Batters should be within the field and alert to the pitcher with eight seconds remaining.
“Before the first pitch it was kind of weird because I have my routine,” Jiménez stated. “But I had to cut it off, everything. But as soon as I took the first pitch, all good. No problem.”
Jiménez completed the at-bat with a single to middle.
Lynn targeting the modifications throughout the offseason and in early work at camp.
“All offseason I worked fast on my bullpens, worked fast in my bullpens here (in camp),” he stated. “Really quick in my stay (bullpens), virtually quicker than essential so once I bought on the market it wouldn’t really feel quicker, it could really feel regular.
“That’s going to be the big thing for everyone, figuring out how to work fast to when you’re out there, you can slow down.”
The Sox had a violation within the ninth inning as minor-league pitcher Mike Morin was charged an computerized ball.
3. The Pedro Grifol period begins.
Grifol held an in-game interview with NBC Sports Chicago throughout the second inning.
“Go ball, yeah,” Grifol stated as Sheets’ lengthy fly to proper landed past the fence for a solo house run.
Saturday marked the start of an period for the Sox as Grifol was within the dugout for his first spring coaching sport as a supervisor.
“It feels good,” Grifol stated earlier than the sport. “(Saturday is) completely different for (the gamers), they’re those who’re going to play the sport. But for us as a workers, it’s good as nicely as a result of we deliberate all offseason for spring coaching and there are particular issues that we wish to get completed within the video games one by 5 after which different issues we wish in 5 by 10 and so forth and so forth.
“We are just in the preparation stage right now. We are trying to prepare this club for opening day.”
Leading as much as the spring opener, the Sox broke the primary portion of camp into chunks of 5 days by way of focus.
“The one thing I saw that I really liked was there was really good effort,” Grifol stated Friday of the latest five-day interval. “The fundamentals are simply OK. They’re not the place we wish them to be. But the trouble is there and the eye to element and the questions, the great questions are there.
“For me, that’s a really good step in the right direction. There’s some things we’ve got to tighten up for sure . … I’m looking forward to watching these guys play as individuals and as a team. And we’ll address things as they come.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com