Bummer expects to be ready by Opening Day

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Aaron Bummer took “a step back” upon arriving at White Sox Spring Training with soreness in the same left shoulder/lat area that limited him to 32 games during the 2022 season.

The southpaw, who ranks third in White Sox history with 70 holds, has done some throwing on the White Sox back fields at Camelback Ranch after going through the requisite offseason bullpen sessions. But he has not thrown off the mound in Arizona as of yet. With a throwing schedule set, Bummer is not worried he won’t be ready for Opening Day.

“We realized we do have a full camp. We have six weeks,” Bummer told MLB.com before Tuesday's 4-1 win over Arizona. “So let’s be a little bit more cognizant and be smart instead of really just pushing some things. We took a couple of days at the beginning of camp, and now we are right back on track to where we need to be moving forward.

“It feels good now. As long as we continue to feel good now, we are going to be right where we need to be. We are moving in the right direction.”

Bummer doesn’t believe this issue will prove to be chronic, saying the soreness didn’t resemble anything he felt last season.

“I just think that it’s something where the injury I had, the scar tissue kept scarring down. When I took the two months off at the end of the season, it almost had to rewake up, re-get into the range of motion that I had before,” Bummer said. “Once we got through it and regained the range of motion that I lost throughout the offseason, things were good.

“Again, we are not worried about the timeline of it. We are just going to take it day by day. We have our schedule built out to get ready for [March] 28th. As of right now, we are right on track for the 28th.”

With 228 appearances and parts of six seasons on his resume, Bummer knows exactly what he needs to be ready for the upcoming campaign. That preparedness won’t translate into five or six Cactus Leagues appearances, but he would like to get into game action before breaking camp.

“Especially with the new rules, just getting off the mound and getting that little bit of adrenaline going again, you want to go out there and compete,” Bummer said. “Live BPs, you can only compete to some extent.

“They are your own teammates, and you don’t want to go in too far, and the last thing I want to do is sit there and hit a teammate or something like that. I want to be able to turn on the competitive juices of a game. But in reality, as soon as you do one of them, you are like, ‘All right, this is go time. This is the fun part.’”

Being limited by injury in 2022 left Bummer frustrated, as he takes pride in preparing his body physically to pitch in as many games as possible. But he did produce an impressive 2.36 ERA over 32 games and 26 2/3 innings last season.

He learned “a heck of lot” by watching how other guys go about their business and their specific routines.

“Hopefully I can take a lot of good out of that, the time I missed,” Bummer said. “Use that moving forward.”

Closer Liam Hendriks continues to receive treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leaving the White Sox to start the season with a closer by committee. Bummer joins Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly and Reynaldo López in the high-leverage role, so playing things cautiously early could lead to in-season dividends.

“[White Sox manager] Pedro [Grifol] mentions leverage a lot. I think that’s important as a bullpen as a whole, putting people in different spots,” Bummer said. “All it does is help.

“Not everybody is available every day. The more people you have pitching leverage roles, the better it is. I’m excited for the bullpen as a whole. Until Liam gets back, we’ll do our best to sit there and hold down the fort. There’s a lot of talent.”