Under Renteria, White Sox working hard to be fundamentally sound

Late last year, general manager Rick Hahn declined to come right out and say what direction the Chicago White Sox were going to move in during the off-season.

Hahn did drop a pretty strong hint, saying the "first couple of moves" would offer guidance.

"Obviously, the (Chris) Sale (trade) was widely viewed as the first move," Hahn said. "But in a lot of ways it was hiring Ricky (Renteria) and promoting Nick Capra and Curt Hasler to our major-league staff. They had deep player development roots, which in my mind at least made it clear internally that we're going to have a younger team, a team where teachers are important and you're identifying priorities of teaching and holding guys accountable and building something for the future."

Renteria replaced Robin Ventura as Sox manager the day after the disappointing 2016 season ended.

Less than two weeks later, Capra was promoted to third-base coach and Hasler replaced Bobby Thigpen as bullpen coach.

During his first 21 years in the Sox's organization, Capra worked as director of player development, minor-league field coordinator, assistant director of minor-league instruction, minor-league coordinator and minor-league manager.

During his 25 years in the White Sox's organization, Hasler was minor-league pitching coordinator and minor-league pitching coach.

Renteria was the Sox's bench coach under Ventura last season, but he also managed the Chicago Cubs in 2014, spent six years on the San Diego Padres' coaching staff and managed in the minor leagues for eight seasons.

To be brutally honest, the Sox are a team in need of teachers.

For years, even their most battle-tested veterans players made mistake after mistake, be it at the plate, on the basepaths or on defense.

Now that the White Sox are transitioning to a younger team, sweating out all the small stuff is even more critical. That's why Renteria and his staff spent so many hours in the early days of spring training working on fundamentals.

"It's important for every club," Renteria said. "Every aspect, from the defensive and offensive standpoint, we're trying to incorporate this spring to help us improve on those things. We're talking about it a lot. A lot of it is more focus and preparation, so hopefully we can increase our intensity and concentration in certain situations without getting uptight and limiting our ability to do certain things."

Every spring, the White Sox have played one or two intrasquad games right before moving into Cactus League play.

Under Renteria this year, the intrasquad games were scrapped and replaced by more fundamental drills.

"Focus is a commitment to the actions you take," Renteria said. "Right now, when we're running the plays, the defensive fundamentals and even the situational hitting, the results in a controlled environment, if you're doing it right, actually occur. That's more an indication guys are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

"It's a little more hectic when you're playing in the game because velocity is increased, the emotions get into the picture. But if they can at least control the environment and master the environment in which they're working, that shows you indications they're going to be able to move forward."