The White Sox have reached the part of the season where every pitch gets examined like it might decide the whole thing.
That was easy to miss in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Tigers, a game that stayed tidy enough to avoid much nitpicking. Davis Martin worked six innings, the Sox used only two relievers, and the two decisions that might have drawn heat both broke the way Will Venable wanted. If that kind of performance helps Chicago take three of four from Detroit, the club can happily keep Friday’s 11-8 loss out of the conversation.
Except Friday is exactly where the questions start.
Sean Newcomb’s rough night included an 0-2 slurve that hit Eduardo Valencia, a game-tying homer to Hao-Yu Lee, and then the go-ahead loss when his walk to Kevin McGonigle came around to score on Bryan Hudson’s loss. Afterward, Newcomb didn’t hide from the frustration.
“Yeah, I mean, results just aren’t working out the way they were early on,” Newcomb said. “Stuff feels good. The hitters being more prepared or a mixture of pitch calling and location, just not going great.
“Everyone has been saying it: It’s playoff baseball essentially as far as it being a tight race and coming down game to game. Doesn’t get more frustrating than that.”
That last part matters because Newcomb’s comment lands in the middle of a bigger conversation about Kyle Teel’s pitch-calling. It’s the second time in the past week that a White Sox pitcher or coach has openly questioned a call from behind the plate.
The first came after Brayan Rocchio’s walk-off single against Grant Taylor on Tuesday. Teel had called for a high sinker after Taylor got ahead with two breaking balls, and Rocchio lifted it to the left-field corner, beyond Sam Antonacci’s shaky route, for his second game-winning hit on a Taylor fastball this year.
Venable and Teel saw that one differently.
‘‘You’ve seen Rocchio and even heard from him how he’s selling out to fastballs against Grant,’’ Venable said. ‘‘[He] had him 0-2 with a couple of breaking balls [and] tried to sneak one by him. Really good hitter, made contact and obviously saw the results.’’
‘‘I wouldn’t say [Rocchio] sold out to it,’’ catcher Kyle Teel said. ‘‘Two strikes on him, it’s the right pitch call.
Grant’s throwing 101 mph. It is what it is.
I liked the pitch call. I think Grant put it in a solid spot.
If we spin him there and we throw three [breaking balls] in a row, he could clip that one, too.’’
On Saturday, Lee’s homer came on another high two-strike fastball, and it was the third try to finish him with that kind of pitch.
Taken alone, Newcomb’s postgame remarks could just sound like a pitcher venting after a bad outing in a bad month. And Teel can point to the location of the pitches Newcomb did throw; outside of one, the non-fastballs missed their intended spots by a wide margin.
Still, two different people circling back to pitch selection - and specifically the same idea - hints at some friction or uncertainty around the game plan. That’s not something the White Sox have had to discuss much, at least not out loud.
There was a time when Korey Lee was in the mix for a 26-man roster spot, and the public signals about his work behind the plate usually came through what people didn’t say. If Martín Maldonado or Edgar Quero handled a strong outing, coaches and pitchers would happily credit the catcher. Lee, by comparison, got far less of that kind of praise.
But Lee was catching through 100-loss seasons, when individual decisions rarely felt like they carried much weight. If he had been behind the plate while the White Sox were fighting to trim down a magic number, maybe the language around those choices would have been sharper.
Teel is only in his second major league season, and injuries have interrupted it, so he’s still learning the job at this level. The White Sox, meanwhile, are in their first year of contending, and it’s a year they didn’t exactly map out before the season began. Now they’re trying to make the most of the resources they have left, with every small choice carrying outsized consequences.
After 155 games, that’s where they are: trying to turn all this experience into something useful, and hoping the lessons don’t all have to come in painful form.
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Murakami is already under contract through 2027 after signing a two-year deal before the season, which gives both sides some breathing room. For now, Chicago appears content to let the bat settle first and revisit the bigger-picture contract discussion later, a clear sign that the front office likes the fit but is willing to wait for better performance before making a long-term commitment. [Read more 🡒]