The White Sox are ready to “really kick it off.”
The “kickoff” for a long-awaited 2020 season is Friday night, when the Sox host the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field with a level of optimism that is fresh and probably warranted.
Manager Rick Renteria’s lineup will look like this:
Tim Anderson SS
Yoan Moncada 3B
Jose Abreu 1B
Yasmani Grandal C
Edwin Encarnacion DH
Eloy Jimenez LF
Luis Robert CF
Nicky Delmonico RF
Leury Garcia 2B
Lucas Giolito P
The starting nine includes three newcomers — Grandal and Encarnacion, signed as free agents during the offseason — and Robert, the favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year honors. Robert, who combined to bat .328/.376/.624 with 32 homers, 11 triples, 31 doubles and 36 stolen bases in 122 games over three minor league levels last season, has impressed in summer camp and in the Sox’ three exhibition games both offensively and defensively.
The Sox believe they are contenders for the postseason, and opening the abbreviated 60-game season with a three-game series against the Twins presents a good early test. The Twins, who slugged a major league record 307 homers in 2019, are the defending AL Central champs and favorites to repeat.
“Our talent’s through the roof,” said Giolito, an All-Star in 2019. “We’ve really come together as a team. The communication’s better. Even like, our clubhouse culture, the banter, our communication. In year’s past, you could see the talent, but we weren’t quite putting it together. And now we’re starting to put those pieces together.”
The Sox were 72-89 in the third year of their rebuild last season. They haven’t had a winning season since 2012 but believe they are on the cusp of changing that now. Sixteen teams instead of 10 will make the postseason this year, heightening the Sox’ chances.
“I’m looking forward to us continuing to build the winning culture that we need here and I think this is going to be the year where we really kick it off,” Giolito said.
Nomar Mazara, acquired in the offseason in a trade for outfield prospect Steele Walker, was going to be the starting right fielder but Mazara went on the injured list for an unspecified reason this week. The left-handed hitting Nicky Delmonico will start in right against Twins All-Star right-hander Jose Berrios Friday night, and Adam Engel, who bats right, will likely start against left-hander Rich Hill Saturday afternoon.
Delmonico was amped up and ready to go appearing on a Zoom call Friday afternoon.
“We’ve been getting our [butt] kicked for three years. I think we’re hungry and I think the fans are, too,” he said. “We want to return the damage that has been given to us, and that makes us dangerous.”
As general manager Rick Hahn said Thursday, the Sox probably won’t hit their peak this season. Numerous players are still in early stages of development.
“In a normal [162-game] season, our fate would be somewhat tied to how quickly some of our young guys acclimate themselves to the big leagues,” Hahn said. “Obviously, as fine as Eloy was last year, there’s still some growth there. [Right-hander] Dylan Cease, there’s still room for growth there. Even [right-hander Reynaldo] Lopez, Tim Anderson and Moncada, we think there’s even more to each of those players. Certainly for a kid making his debut like Luis Robert, it may take a little bit of time for them to acclimate themselves to the big leagues.
“Each of those players are capable of playing at such a high level that if everyone comes close to reaching their capabilities and is able to find some consistent rhythm early in the season, we will be in pretty good shape here over the next two or three months.”
