Pregame notes: An early skirmish to stay out of the cellar

The White Sox and Angels were the two worst teams in the American League last year, and something about seeing Nicky Lopez take pregame reps at first base on Sunday, or Los Angeles' starter in their third game of the season posting a sub-10 percent strikeout rate in 2024 leads one to believe that both clubs could be in similar stations in 2025.

But it's a new year, and weather permitting, Sunday offers the chance for both teams to try to distinguish themselves.

And if you can get yourself up for the stakes of a March 30th game against two cellar-dwellers from last year, probably the first question would be about veteran utilityman Nick Maton not only DH-ing for the second-straight day, but leading off. It's simultaneously proof of new manager Will Venable dedication to rotating the leadoff spot, leaning into platoon matchups, and his assertion that Maton's prowess against fastballs will make him capable against Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz who threw a truly absurd amount (~72 percent) of turbo sinkers last season.

"We're going to see a lot of fastballs in the zone, a lot of sinkers today," Venable said. "So we like that matchup for him leading us off."

In what is likely a very related story, Mike Tauchman ran the bases at seemingly maximum effort on Saturday and Venable said he will soon be headed out on a rehab assignment for his right hamstring strain. He's technically eligible to return on the last day of the Twins series, but with a flight to Charlotte involved, it feels like the opening of the road trip on Friday in Detroit would be a better bet.

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Sean Burke got through six innings on 73 pitches, and Jonathan Cannon might have gotten pulled from a 0-0 game at five innings, 85 pitches in a normal situation. But Venable confirmed that shorter outings will probably be norm during the early days of the season.

"I don't know if there's an exact science to it or approach to it other than it's early and we are looking at the long-term," Venable said. "The most important thing is to do what you have to do to win today. But there are considerations for the long-term and we don't want to put our guys in spots where we’re pushing them to go 100 pitches the first few starts here."

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Matt Thaiss hit .324/.375/.486 in spring with only six strikeouts in 40 trips to the plate, amid a camp where his big focus was expanding his plate coverage.

"He came in and he knew 'My bat path is not covering parts of the zone it needs to cover, especially that middle-to-upper third,'" said director of hitting Ryan Fuller. "For a lot of guys, they're never going to be great at covering the top of the zone, but [it's about] being able to spoil pitches when they throw it up there. To his credit, his swing has shortened up a ton. He has coverage that he didn't have previously."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Angels

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WRTO 1200 AM (Spanish)

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