White Sox have a new motto -- here's what it means for the team

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Play fast.

If the White Sox were looking for a 2024 slogan, it should have something to do with these two words. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time manager Pedro Grifol has said this phase since the start of Spring Training, I would have somewhere around $10 extra.

But what does it mean, exactly? There were different interpretations when the question was asked on Monday before the White Sox first full-squad workout.

“Keep the other team on its toes,” first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “Play hard, play good defense, pitch well, hit well, run well. Putting pressure on the other team is a good way to win ballgames.”

“Respect 90s,” said White Sox designated hitter Eloy Jiménez, referring to the distance between the bases. “That is something that [Grifol] told us this morning. That is good. That is something different coming from him in the second year.”

The difference doesn't come just from Grifol, but from the team as a whole, according to Jiménez.

“We put in the effort sometimes, some games,” said Jiménez of the forgettable 2023 campaign. “But this year is going to be different.”

So, playing fast is more of a mindset, a state of the team, than the literal sense of every player in the lineup being expected to steal bases. Don’t get me wrong, there will be an increase in basestealing for those who excel in the area, such as Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi and Nicky Lopez, to name a few.

For players who are blessed by many skills but not the fleet of foot, it goes back to that team culture, its identity. Grifol shared a story from his recent interaction with the catchers, including Martín Maldonado, further detailing this idea.

“I said, 'Our style of game is fast, and I know what you’re talking about, Maldy, because you’re probably looking at me like, "Uh ... you sure you want to go there? I can’t do anything with that,"'” Grifol said. “But there’s a lot of things that are inside that word that we’ve identified as really important categories.

“It’s selfless, it’s aggressive, it’s fearless, it’s an enjoyable environment, one where we’re constantly learning from each other. It’s a little more complicated than just fast. I like the word because it’s also a word that lets us know we have to do whatever it takes to win baseball games. Whether it’s bunt, hit and run, run and hit, balls in the dirt. All that stuff. We’ve got to look for all that stuff if we want to win.”

People have scoffed at the “culture” notion also being frequently discussed by Grifol, general manager Chris Getz and other members of the staff. But it’s an important element to what the White Sox are trying to do.

Think of this season as the beginnings of a company eventually set to make its name among the ranks of the Fortune 500. The 2024 outset likely won’t tell a tale of full success, and some people who are currently on the ground floor won’t be there when the company hopes to reach its full potential in two or three years. But even those who won’t be there will still be able to look back and know they played a significant role in the club’s development.

Yes, play fast. It’s a buy-in not just for the leaders, but for the entire roster.

“This is not something we are going to invent here for the first time. This is something we’re trying to create,” Grifol said. “A lot of these organizations have some of this stuff. Maybe they word it differently. But the really good organizations, they’re about this kind of stuff.

“They’re about enjoying themselves on the field and taking risks and playing selfless and being good teammates and understanding what it takes to win baseball games as a team. We’re all in this thing together, and all our successes are tied together.

“If at the end of the year we’re where we need to be, where we’re supposed to be, where we want to be, we’ll have a lot of good individual years. You can’t do that alone. You need your teammates, and that’s why you have a roster of 40. It will probably take 40 -- or maybe more than that -- to get this done.”