LaRoche looks to bounce back after miserable White Sox debut
GLENDALE, Ariz. - When reflecting on a 2015 season that was every bit as bad as the statistics indicate, Adam LaRoche didn't have to search for words to describe it.
"Last year sucked," he said.
Yes, it did.
Signed to a two-year, $25 million contract before the season and expected to provide a left-handed pop out of the cleanup spot for the White Sox, LaRoche instead put up a .207/.293/.340 hitting line with 12 home runs and 44 RBI.
With the Nationals in 2014, LaRoche slashed .259/.362/.455 with 26 homers and 92 RBI.
So, what went wrong in his Sox debut?
"I think it's one of those that starts to go, you start to struggle and the team's struggling, and in the middle of it you try a little too hard and you just don't recover," LaRoche said Sunday after reporting to Camelback Ranch. "I wish I could go back and redo it. And now I get to do that this year. We get to do that as a team this year and start over. Fresh record, new season."
LaRoche wasn't making any excuses for last year's showing, even though he was bothered by a sore wrist early and a bad knee late in the season.
"I had my knee, I think the last two months, a little patella tendinitis going on and it just slowly got worse," LaRoche said. "No surgery, didn't need anything but rest and so far it has felt great. After a couple of months of resting on it, it has gone away. Other than that, minor things, but nothing to affect performance."
LaRoche's biggest obstacle was trying to adjust to the designated hitter's role. He spent the majority of his career in the National League and was a first baseman before joining the White Sox.
"I sat right here last year and said I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't think it would be a whole lot different," LaRoche said. "I'm changing that for sure now, it's a lot different. I know I told you guys throughout the year that I've got a lot of respect for guys that can DH and be really good at it because it was different, it was tough.
"I'm hoping just the comfort level will be there this year as far as I've done it some now and regardless of success or not, I know what to expect and the difference in the feeling there. I hope that's a lot easier transition than it was last year."
To prepare for the upcoming season, LaRoche said he did crossfit training for the first time.
Davidson done?
After being acquired in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2014 season, Matt Davidson was widely viewed as the Sox' future third baseman.
Playing for Class AAA Charlotte, Davidson led the International League with 23 home runs last season, and he was fourth with 20 the year before.
On the flip side, Davidson was first in the IL with 191 strikeouts last season and first with 164 in 2014.
Now that the White Sox have Todd Frazier at third base for at least the next two years, Davidson knows where he stands.
"I mean, I kind of expected it," Davidson said of the trade that landed Frazier. "I would think as the White Sox, you would want to produce at third base and obviously I haven't been doing that. No hurt feelings or nothing like that. I would have done the same thing if I was in their position."
Whether it's in the Sox' organization or elsewhere, Davidson knows he has to cut down his big swing if he hopes to make it back to the major leagues.
Acquired from Arizona for closer Addison Reed, Davidson played in 31 games for the Diamondbacks in 2013 and batted .237 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.
"I think I'm really learning my swing," Davidson said. "I think when I first came here in 2014, I just did everything naturally. I didn't even really know what I was doing. I was just hitting. And then obviously, the past couple of years, I kind of had to try to a lot of different things. A lot of them didn't work."