White Sox manager Renteria sends another message: Make an effort or grab some bench
Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria's latest message was directly sent to veteran catcher Welington Castillo.
But minor leaguers throughout the system also received a copy.
"You've got to be able to do it throughout the system," Renteria said. "Our guys are vigilant in trying to get our men in the minor leagues to understand, 'Hey, at the major-league level, if you guys don't do this you're going to get taken out.'"
In Monday night's 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field, Castillo came to the plate in the sixth inning with runners on second and third with no outs.
He popped up to Chris Davis and didn't bother running to first base. Castillo spent the rest of the game on the bench.
"He knew," Renteria said. "He understood. He actually said, 'You had to do that.'"
The two have been tight since 2014, when Renteria managed Castillo with the Cubs.
"That was kind of uncharacteristic of him, but I think he understood you do toe the line with everybody," Renteria said.
Castillo clearly understood why he was pulled from the game.
"Yeah, 100 percent," he said. "That's something he's not going to let pass. He always says you've got to run the bases hard no matter what. And for some reason, I was just frustrated. I wanted to get the job done.
"I saw the ball was going to be fair, and for some reason I did not run. I think that the decision that he made was the right decision. That's not me, and I'm not going to do it again."
Like Leury Garcia earlier in the season and Avisail Garcia in spring training, either not running the bases at all or dogging it down the line is going to earn you a spot in the dugout.
Renteria thinks the lesson is especially important to all of the Sox's minor-league prospects, who offer a promising future in what it an extremely grim present.
The second-year manager understands it's a marathon season and bodies start hurting on the first day of spring training.
But Renteria still expects to see some type of effort.
"It has nothing to do with just taking guys out," he said. "This is just about being a professional, giving a good effort. There is an effort level you can expect from these guys. There are going to be times when they're beat up and you know it and you see it. You allow some room for some of that and you know they're going to give you what they need to in a high leverage situation."
The way Renteria sees it, it's an accident the first time one of this players fails to run hard. The second time is a habit.
Like Avi and Leury Garcia, Castillo was benched for an accident.
"I'm assuming it's not going to be a habit," Renteria said. "I think that they've all been really, really good in understanding what it is we're trying to do and I commend them for it. All the guys that have come through here last year, the year before and previous and this group here, we all understand the game moves players around in different places.
"But they're all assisting us in trying to help us become the organization we want to be in terms of how we approach things in many different ways. And though some of them may not be here as we move forward in the near future, they're also a part of building what it is we're trying to do here."