This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DETROIT -- I asked Korey Lee on Monday if he looks at himself as the 2024 White Sox starting catcher.

Lee didn’t provide a definitive “yes” or “no” response to that question. But he did present the right answer in the context of where this team will be and where he needs to be for the team.

“I’m going to come to Spring Training, be healthy, do my thing and that’s for the organization to decide,” Lee told me. “I’m going to bring my game, whatever I can to the table to help this organization win. That’s the way you have to approach it.”

Manager Pedro Grifol spoke on Monday about the competition taking place across all positions when players arrive for Spring Training in 2024. General manager Chris Getz mentioned Saturday how the players’ expectations coming into Spring Training should be to make the ballclub.

That expectation goes beyond guys who are currently on the Major League roster to someone such as shortstop Colson Montgomery, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 17 overall.

“That’s the competitiveness we need here with the White Sox,” Getz said. “I certainly want to ingrain that mindset in all our players.”

“And the competition is not just going to be based on the tools that you have,” Grifol said. “It’s going to be based on the style of baseball that we want to play. We know we need to hit and we know we need to score more runs and situational hit and all of that, but we also need to play defense and we need to run bases.”

Competition can be a driving force, also with the potential to illustrate depth at various positions. It isn’t usually an overriding factor for a team truly looking to contend, as the White Sox have discussed recently.

The White Sox, as they stand currently, will need three starting pitchers in 2024, assuming Michael Kopech stays part of the rotation. They also face uncertainty at second base and right field, and potentially catcher and shortstop, depending on what they decide on Tim Anderson’s $14 million club option.

These roster permutations do not factor in any potential bold offseason trades made by Getz, who stated at his introductory press conference there are no untouchables. That open competition brought about by this sort of uncertainty might be something the White Sox need as part of a turnaround, and Lee for one, is doing what he can in 2023 to get ready for those future battles.

“That’s what I want. That’s what I’ve dreamed about doing. I’m going to come in prepared to come in and play every day,” Lee said. “I want to contribute for a win every single day.

“If that’s catching, it’s catching. If it’s hitting, it’s hitting. Catching always comes first and I’m a big believer in that. If I catch a great game, I think we’ve got a chance to win.”