GLENDALE, Ariz. — Left fielder -Andrew Benintendi could have let everyone know just how much playing through a sore hand affected him last year, but it’s not his style.
Benintendi kept his head down and played through it, on some nights when others might not have.
Part of that, perhaps, was knowing he was given the largest contract in club history. But more of it was believing it’s simply what professionals should be expected to do.
This spring, he came to camp with the sore right hand behind him.
“It’s big,” he said Tuesday on the second day of full-squad workouts. “Those little nagging injuries, they seem small at the time, but they linger for a while. You’ve just got to play through it. Obviously, the results probably won’t be the same.”
Benintendi suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand at the end of the 2022 season with the Yankees. It limited his offseason workouts, and discomfort lingered into last season. He received a cortisone shot around the All-Star break.
In his first year with the White Sox, Benintendi batted .262/.326/.356 with only five home runs and a .682 OPS, the lowest of his eight-year career in a full season. But he showed up, playing in 151 games. Only Andrew Vaughn with 152 played more among the Sox.
“Being out there and grinding through things, showing up and being in the lineup goes a long way, mentally, for a player and the guys around you,” he said. “That was my focus. But I definitely feel better this year and am looking forward to getting out there.”
“He looks bigger, stronger,” manager Pedro Grifol said.
Moose on the loose
Mike Moustakas, trying to make the team as a bench player at 35, was a teammate of first-year general manager Chris Getz with the Royals, and they have remained close. He’s not surprised by the path Getz, who paid his front-office dues in Kansas City, has taken.
“He’s always been an intelligent, intellectual guy and saw the game a little bit differently,” Moustakas said. “When he was with the Royals in the front office, you could see the climb he was starting to have.”
Getz said Moustakas, a left-handed-hitting corner infielder with 212 career homers, has to demonstrate that he can still contribute. Moustakas calls this a challenge.
“I’ve got to perform, do everything I can to make a ballclub,” Moustakas said. “I’m fully prepared to do that. I’m excited. It’s another opportunity. And it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
This and that
Third-base prospect Bryan Ramos homered to the opposite field against Michael Kopech in live batting practice. The early returns on Kopech’s stuff and velocity in camp have been encouraging, however.
• The rotation isn’t set, but indications are the top five candidates are Dylan Cease, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka, Kopech and Chris Flexen.
• Grifol said “we dominated” in Tuesday’s workouts, calling them “flawless.”
• Coaches Grady Sizemore and Jason Bourgeois reported that baserunning drills were “tremendous,” Grifol said.
