CHICAGO -- When Jason Coats arrived at second base in the ninth inning of Cleveland's walk-off victory Thursday night, the White Sox rookie received a message of praise from infielders Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis.
Cleveland's double-play combination humorously referred to Coats as a "bad man" for coming off the bench and driving a double off the right-field wall against a pitcher of Andrew Miller's vast ability. Coats started in right field Friday night in the series opener against the A's, but he's prepping for life as a pinch-hitter this season after serving as an everyday player for his entire Minor League career.
"Come around the fifth or sixth inning, I start working in the cages trying to get loose," Coats said. "I'm most likely going to go in there against a left-hander, so I do a little bit more studying on them. I do take a look at everybody else, just like everybody here does, get a feel for what the pitcher has.
"Especially in my case, I haven't faced any of these guys before so I need to spend a little more time down there on the film since I haven't had any actual at-bats. Mental reps are sometimes just as good as physical reps, and I'm just trying to do whatever I can to be ready when my name is called."
Coats has gone 4-for-14 against left-handers and feels more comfortable with each passing day as part of the White Sox. He started 2-for-22 with two runs scored and no RBIs, but is 4-for-8 since with a homer and two RBIs.
"Nerves are finally almost gone. Just playing within myself again and not trying to do too much, trying to press. It's helping a lot," Coats said. "I knew I could hit. I knew this was just a rough start. I felt like anywhere I've gone and played at every level, if I didn't have success right away, I had to figure some stuff out. But then I finally kept it going. I never doubted myself."
"At-bat-wise, he's past the point of it's his first time and feeling a bit uneasy about going up there," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "His approach has been great when he's been in there. Even in Miami, he got a start, which was nice. And even the at-bat last night, against a guy like Miller, it's impressive for him to go up there and see him adjust and do some different things."
Those adjustments produced Coats' first career pinch-hit and praise from the opposition.
"He flipped me a first-pitch slider in there, good pitch, no way I'm hitting that," a smiling Coats said. "Luckily he made a mistake and left a fastball out over the plate and I just got my barrel there and got enough of it to get it over the outfielder's head. I didn't do that much. I watched some film on him and heard be ready for the fastball."