The offseason is over, and now the games count for real. Opening Day is here, and it’s always a particular time of the baseball season. Hope, anticipation, worry, doubt, and all other adjectives linger in people’s minds. But this season opener is different than in years past. It’s different from what most Sox fans would have hoped. Heading into this 2024 season with a new regime of Chris Getz and Assistant General Manager Josh Barfield. This marks a new era in White Sox baseball as the ball club takes on a new identity with second-year manager Pedro Grifol.
This new era in White Sox baseball marks a new start with fresh faces, such as infielders Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez, and Braden Shewmake, a new catcher, Martin Maldanado, and a couple of new faces in the outfield: Dominic Fletcher and Kevin Pillar. Fresh arms are galore in the pitching department for the 2024 Opening Day roster. John Brebbia, Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen, Deivi Garcia, Jordan Leasure, Dominic Leone, Michael Soroka, and Steven Wilson are present in the Opening Day rotation and bullpen with many more on the way. Some of our top 30 prospects should be making debuts in Chicago as well.
With Dylan Cease pitching for the Padres, Garrett Crochet will get the nod as an Opening Day starter. Per Chris Kamka, Crochet will be the first White Sox pitcher to make an Opening Day start, his first major league start since Roy Patterson in 1901. Earlier in the spring, Chris Getz said, “He’s a special arm (Crochet). He’s shown three pitches in the past, so he’s got the starter kit to be a starting pitcher”. The former first-rounder has premium stuff, but the questions will center around the amount of innings that can be thrown this season and going forward.
2024 White Sox Storylines
Will Eloy Jimenez finish the season with the White Sox?
This Pale Hose team is not designed to be a great ball club. PECOTA projections have the White Sox winning 66.5 games. At that rate, if Eloy is having a good season, maybe by the trade deadline, as teams start to see October ahead of them, they will pick up the phone and call Chris Getz about the right-handed slugger.
Eloy is entering his sixth season with the White Sox. And he was never as much of a defensive outfielder as everyone would have liked him to be; it’s more likely that he fits best as a designated hitter. Eloy, who will be in his age 27 season, if healthy, can be a trade piece for Chris Getz at the deadline.
Who in the starting rotation will emerge as the go-to guy?
Michael Soroka? Erick Fedde? I’m not saying that the Sox will have a stopper on the pitching staff, but someone solid enough to put together 10-15 solid starts throughout the year. Look at years past when Johnny Cueto was on the team. He wasn’t necessarily a stopper, but everyone knew what we would get every time he took the mound: a solid 6-7 innings with a few runs allowed. The starters will have bad games, which is the nature of baseball, so let’s not be quick to judge someone based on one outing.
How will Pedro Grifol’s second season compare to his first?
Coming off a 101-loss season, it can only go up from here, right? Everyone hopes so, but the projections are not that kind for this 2024 White Sox squad. Fangraphs has the White Sox’s projected record at 67-95. Is that an improvement? Yes. But that is the improvement that most Sox fans are looking for. This season could mainly be about individual players and judging their success and the success of the future Sox (no pun intended), but also about the players of the future and how they perform.
What will 2024 bring for Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada?
Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite topic. Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech. The names have been hand in hand since that December day in 2016 when Rick Hahn traded Chris Sale for four players from the Red Sox, but undoubtedly, Moncada and Kopech were the biggest names in the trade package who, at the time, were some of the best prospects in the game of baseball.
Moncada is in a contract year, so things may look up for the Cuban third baseman this season. Being able to stay on the field is the main issue for Yoan. Injuries have been a big part of his career, but if he can replicate his 2021 season, where he slashed .263/.375/.412 with an OPS+ of 116, it would be a big success.
Michael Kopech is a different story. Problems with him finding his control have been a glaring issue for Kopech. He will be able to be in more of a higher-leverage relief role this season, which can benefit him because out of the bullpen, there’s no need to have a handful of pitches and a five-pitch mix. Kopech has a solid three-pitch mix highlighted by his fastball and slider, so this change to the pen can be very beneficial to his career.
White Sox Opening Day Matchup
Garrett Crochet will face off against the Tiger’s number-one starter, Tarik Skubal. The first pitch is at 3:10 CT over on NBC Sports Chicago. Be sure to tune in and follow FutureSox to stay updated with all White Sox content throughout the season!