Young arms focus of White Sox spring camp

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Right-handers Alec Hansen, Dane Dunning and Dylan Cease won't break camp for the Majors this season when the White Sox depart Arizona on March 25.
But all three are non-roster invitees, each ranked among the Top 100 prospects per MLB Pipeline, and will be bringing the team's robust future into the exciting present during their first big league Spring Training at Camelback Ranch. White Sox pitchers and catchers officially report on Wednesday.
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"I don't think there's any way I would start with the big league team. I think there's no way that'll happen," Hansen said during a SoxFest interview. "But just take every game in Double-A kind of like I did last year, game by game, and just build on each game and just move up the ladder. I mean, I'm two doors down right now in Double-A, so I'm very close."

"He's a big, strong guy who throws the ball in the mid-to-upper 90s," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said. "He has a curveball that breaks like a freaking firecracker, a slider that is hard and sharp and a changeup that is progressing. He's a guy who has work to do like everybody."
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Cooper has the Spring Training schedule already set out for every pitcher in camp. That list ranges from veteran James Shields -- who could be the Opening Day starter against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium -- to the latest non-roster additions, in southpaw reliever Xavier Cedeño and right-handers Jeanmar Gómez and Bruce Rondón.
Focus certainly will fall upon the plethora of young, talented hurlers. Along with Hansen (ranked No. 54 in the Top 100), Cease (No. 61) and Dunning (No. 92), there's Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López and Carson Fulmer making up three-fifths of the White Sox starting rotation.
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Carlos Rodón will be continuing his throwing program during rehab work from arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder, leaving him out of action for six to eight months as of last September. Let's not forget Michael Kopech, MLB Pipeline's No. 10 prospect, who will be used as a starter during Spring Training, and very well could reach the Majors in '18.
This list doesn't even include top-notch young position players such as Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert Jr., Micker Adolfo and Yoán Moncada, who report on Feb. 19. Cactus League games begin for the South Siders on Feb. 23 against the Dodgers.

"I'm never going to be complacent as a player," Giolito said. "No good players ever are just happy with where they are at or what they are doing. You always have to improve, and luckily working with Coop, I know the specific areas I need to improve as a pitcher."