Pregame Notes: Opening in Sacramento

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- It's an even split of five White Sox coaches (Will Venable, Jason Bourgeois, Matt Wise, Marcus Thames, Drew Butera) and five Sox players (Tyler Gilbert, Penn Murfee, Matt Thaiss, Miguel Vargas, Steven Wilson) who have played at Sutter Health Park before.

"I do not remember at all," Venable said. "That was a long time ago."

Instead, the White Sox are drawing from the early reviews of playing in a Pacific Coast League park from their peers around the league. They've been told to be wary of how well the ball carries, how weird the lighting is for outfielders, how uneven the infield can play. But in what seems to be a conclusion reached a lot by Athletics organization employees who have experienced both, a fresh coat of paint over an undersized facility beats an old stadium that had been intentionally left to rot, if only from a baseball operations perspective.

"They did a good job with the locker room and the clubhouse," Venable said. "To be honest, it feels like an upgrade over Oakland in that regard."

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Lefties Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler and J.J. Bleday combined to hit five home runs off White Sox pitching just over a week ago in Chicago, so the impetus for opening with lefty Tyler Gilbert to neutralize the pop at the top of the A's order before giving way to Sean Burke is clear enough.

But with the Sox currently using an all-righty starting rotation since losing Martín Pérez and three multi-inning lefties in their bullpen (and Fraser Ellard rehabbing at Triple-A), could this be a strategy they return to repeatedly?

"There are some times with opposing lineups where you know you're going to get some matchups that you like with the lefties on the top three, and then you’re positioned with your bullpen to capture that matchup up front and put your starter in a better position," Venable said. "We talked to our guys about this earlier that this is something that we'll look at. Every day we're going to be thoughtful about what's the best path for us to win a game and put our guys in the best position to succeed. And on this day, and potentially on ones moving forward, you could see it."

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Edgar Quero immediately looks like one of the better hitters the White Sox have, but is also a hugely important 22-year-old prospect who has neither caught more than 95 games nor played more than 111 games in a season before. With Matt Thaiss providing his expected mix of walks (.365 OBP) and plus blocking, Venable sees them alternating days behind the plate with Quero find more at-bats than that through periodic DH-ing.

"We're in a pretty good spot to do that and to be mindful of both of these guys," Venable said. "There's some catching situations where you have to match up and you have to do those things. I think with these guys, we can kind of map out their workload and be mindful of that. And then for Edgar, there's no reason why he can't DH here and there too to get his bat in the lineup also while keeping him off his feet."

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Maybe a more reliable sight of recent is the game finding Joshua Palacios batting in a critical spot, as he leads off for the second-straight night.

"He's just always ready to go," Venable said. "He's got an aggressive mentality and always puts himself in a good spot to get his swings off. And for me, it's been just kind of the combination of just quality at-bats and controlling the zone and swinging at good pitches and being dangerous enough to move them forward, and hit some balls hard."

Palacios is still searching for his first extra-base hit in a White Sox uniform, but has found his way into enough free passes to produce a weird .214/.333/.214 line so far.

First pitch: White Sox at Athletics

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

Lineups: