Let the exhibition games begin.
The next phase of White Sox spring training will kick off Friday when they face the Dodgers in the Cactus League opener at Camelback Ranch.
“We’re excited,” manager Rick Renteria said. “It seems like it came upon us quickly. In general, I think everybody’s ready to start playing the games.”
The Sox have a 32-game exhibition schedule that will run from Friday-March 26 when they conclude their spring slate against their Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte.
Renteria said the plan is to play every player in camp throughout the spring schedule, including the plethora of young players that are the main ingredient of the Sox’s rebuild.
“One of my goals is to make these guys as comfortable as possible and let them experience being at the major-league level and playing,” Renteria said. “It doesn't do me any good to bring someone to camp and not use them. I think I need to take advantage of that as much as possible.
“It should be a fun spring,” Renteria added. “We’ll have some ups and downs for sure but for the purpose of getting to know each other and knowing what they're capable of doing or at least getting a little glimpse of it, it will be fun.”
As important as it is to evaluate the players in camp, keeping them healthy will be the main priority.
“That’s safe to say for everybody,” Renteria said. “We’re still looking at these guys. They’ve had four days in. We’re very hopeful that all of them had been working prior to that. We have a lot of younger guys that were here earlier continuing to maintain their shape (but) once you start playing the games, it’s a little different speed.
“In our own personal experience, at times it feels like everything’s real fast, and you’re not moving fast enough (but) it’s actually the opposite,” he added. “You’ve got to slow yourself down when you’ve been away from the real game-time. Hopefully, these guys will be OK.”
Dylan Covey will start for the Sox while fellow right-hander Wilmer Font will be the Dodgers starter.
Twitter @ChrisKuc
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