White Sox's Keuchel happy with his 7-batter outing

Dallas Keuchel was sharp in a brief start Friday.

The left-handed pitcher the White Sox signed as a free agent opened an intrasquad scrimmage at Guaranteed Rate Field by retiring all seven batters he faced.

The 32-year-old was perfect in 2⅓ innings. He struck out Adam Engel, Andrew Vaughn and Zack Collins.

"I feel good," the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder said afterward. "Today was another good step. I definitely could've gone a little bit more. I think precautionary is the best measure right now instead of trying to blow it out.

"If I can get to 5 innings my last Spring Training 2.0 start, then I'm right on schedule with a normal spring training. If I can get to 5 in however many pitches, I know I can go 6 or 7 that first start."

The bearded ninth-year veteran said he doesn't think he will need to pitch too deep into most games, though. He expects the shortened season to be managed differently than a normal 162-game regular season.

"I firmly believe playoff-mode baseball is going to be managed from day one, so I'm not necessarily looking to throw a complete game in each outing," he said. "But the quality of innings is where it's going to be at."

White Sox bench coach Joe McEwing ran the club Friday in the absence of manager Rick Renteria, who is attending a family funeral in California.

McEwing liked what he saw of Keuchel but agreed the cautious approach was best two weeks ahead of the July 24 season opener against Minnesota.

"We are progressing gradually," McEwing said. "He could have went out there for another one. It was great to see him out there. A lot of positives, a lot of groundballs. It was great to see him out there, and he's progressing to where we are getting him where he needs to be. He wanted to go back out. He felt great."

The bench coach gushed about Keuchel off the field, calling him "the ultimate professional" and "an amazing teammate." He said the White Sox as an organization are fortunate to have acquired a player who takes younger pitchers under his wing and builds clubhouse chemistry.

"You don't have enough time in the day to say all the positives he brings to the table," McEwing said.

Keuchel, who owns a career record of 84-71 in 211 games with a 3.67 earned-run average, said there is no blanket approach to being a clubhouse mentor.

"I try not to push the younger kids too much just because I try to figure out what they can handle and what they can't handle at this time," he said. "Some guys are ahead of the curve. Some guys are right there. Some guys are a little bit behind. But talent-wise they're all really, really, really good."