Nicky Lopez ready to ‘bust his butt’ for White Sox, exact kind of player they wanted this offseason

Talking during the GM meetings in November, Chris Getz laid out what he wanted to accomplish in his first offseason as the White Sox’ general manager.

“We really need to establish the identity of what the White Sox are about,” he said in Arizona, where he also hammered home an emphasis on defensive and fundamental improvement. “I feel like we’ve lacked that. So I’ve set out to do that right now.”

Fans might be mostly underwhelmed by an offseason that’s been short on big-name or long-term additions, and the highlights of the winter – word of a possible new stadium and Colson Montgomery ranking as a top 10 prospect in baseball – show exactly where the White Sox are, in rebuilding mode, even if Getz and his fellow team employees aren’t interested in using that wording.

But Getz has delivered on what he set out to do this offseason, even if it hasn’t seemed like enough to vault the White Sox from 101 losses into contender status in the perennially weak AL Central.

To see everything the White Sox were looking for, look no further than the new second baseman. You might know him as a local product.

Nicky Lopez, who came over in a November trade with the Braves, isn’t going to win over too many White Sox fans with what they can find on his Baseball-Reference page. His career OPS-plus mark of 73 means he’s been a well below-average hitter during his five-year major league career, all but 25 games of which were spent with the division-rival Royals.

That will set up plenty of the same stale Royals jokes that have dominated White Sox fans’ discourse this winter. But it also means he has experience with Pedro Grifol, the White Sox manager who keeps talking about his team playing a new style in 2024, one far removed from the mistake-filled and ugly-looking play that defined last year’s massive disappointment on the South Side.

“One of the things I learned last year is that we played a game that doesn’t win in the big leagues. We need to play faster,” Grifol said during the Winter Meetings in December. “We need to be more athletic. We’ve got to catch a baseball. We have to do things a little better fundamentally. … It’s the type of game that wins games at the major league level. You have to play fundamental baseball to be able to compete at that level, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“We have to play fast. If you’re not playing fast baseball in the big leagues, you’re not going to have success. If you look at the teams that were in the playoffs and if you look at (reigning NL champion) Arizona, these guys are a handful, and it reminded me of our teams in Kansas City, where they just played fast. They make plays. They do whatever it takes to win a baseball game. They were a handful in the playoffs, and that’s the style of baseball that we want to play and that we need to play to turn this thing around.”

From general manager to manager, it’s been a vocal desire to really revamp the way the White Sox play. And perhaps no one can be a better guide in what that ideal style is than Lopez, who despite the lack of offensive numbers has excelled defensively and excelled at doing the things that don’t show up in the box score.

Lopez comes in with an understanding of exactly what Grifol wants to see from his team.

“Me and Pedro have a really good relationship,” Lopez said in an interview with CHGO last week. “He tries to get the best out of everyone. He’s a big clubhouse guy. He wants to build a clubhouse, and I’m happy to help that here.

“He wants you to play hard. He wants you to bust your butt whenever you’re on the field. For me, personally, he wants me to do the small things right, whether it’s move a runner, … play great defense.

“One thing you’ll know: Whenever I’m on the field, I’ll bust my butt, I’ll give 110 percent. That’s what Pedro wants.”

The White Sox already had their “grinder rules” back in the day, and there might be a revival coming in 2024, with guys like Lopez leading the charge. Other new additions like shortstop Paul DeJong and catcher Martín Maldonado have similar reputations as defensive-minded guys who pay attention to fundamentals, place importance in their preparation and know what it’s like to exist in winning cultures.

DeJong is fluent in the much discussed “Cardinal Way.” Maldonado was integral to the unending postseason success of the Astros. And make as many jokes as you want, but Lopez comes from the culture that delivered the Royals a World Series title in 2015, nine years ago, sure, but 10 years more recent than the White Sox’ last world championship.

The White Sox will look to do their own thing, of course, with Grifol leading the way in the clubhouse, where things didn’t go as he planned in his first year on the job in 2023. He’s admitted to taking too much of a hands-off approach, and he’s talked about how much he learned and how he hopes to do things differently in Year 2. There’s been a ton of personnel change, with a lot of veterans shipped out at last year’s trade deadline. Since, White Sox mainstays like Tim Anderson, Liam Hendriks and Aaron Bummer have departed, as well. And there have been changes on the coaching staff, too.

It’s all part of Getz and Grifol’s identity overhaul.

Skeptics will be justified until the changes are visible on the field, which could take some time. Folks have held Grifol’s comments about “kicking ass” from his introductory press conference over his head for the last year as few, if any, of the things he promised materialized during a nightmarish season.

But if you want to look elsewhere than the manager for a sign of things to come, forget about “kicking ass” and start focusing on who’s “busting their butt.”

“One thing I hang my hat on is whether it’s pretty, whether it’s successful, I’m always going to bust my butt,” Lopez said. “I’m always going to give 110-percent effort. And if I don’t, I want people to check me on it.

“The game is hard. It’s not making excuses, but the game is hard. Sometimes you’re going to have failures, but it’s how you bounce back. You can control your effort, so that’s one thing I do.”

That’s a nice start for a team that had Grifol questioning and criticizing effort on a regular basis in 2023. But will it translate to any more wins in 2024? Certainly few on the outside are projecting such an outcome. The White Sox, for their dedication to defensive improvement and bringing in players who play the game the way they want it played, have done little to inspire confidence that they’ll be scoring many runs this season. A lot of the offensive improvement is hoped to come from carryovers who have mostly failed to deliver on the hype during their short major league careers.

But there was a reason for that hype in the first place, and Lopez thinks all that talent – plus a new energy, a new outlook and some bulletin-board material – could help the team’s fortunes improve from where they were last year, one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

“It’s definitely a different style, different look in this clubhouse now. But we’re going to be scrappy, and that’s a recipe for success,” Lopez said. “I know we’re getting projected last, whatever it is. … I think it’s more of a motivator, to be honest. It’s more to prove us right than to prove anybody wrong. I think that’s the way you’ve got to look at it. … If we believe in each other in the clubhouse and believe in the way we play, move the line, believe in the guy that’s on the mound, make some plays behind him, I think we’re going to be in good shape, I do.

“If you hit a single and you bust your ass to get a double out of it, it fires up a team. Just that mindset of, ‘Let’s not just settle. Let’s keep pushing the envelope and keep going.’ I’ve seen White Sox teams that when they’re going good, that’s the style of play they’re playing. Obviously they have the guys that can leave the yard, but it’s those guys that can get on base, those guys that can make a diving play in the hole.

“I’ve seen Yoán Moncada rob me (of a hit) many times. It’s there. I’ve seen Eloy (Jiménez). If Eloy’s healthy, he’s going to leave Mother Earth 45 times. It’s there. It’s just one of those things where maybe it’s more of a mentality thing than anything.”

The Naperville native Lopez didn’t grow up a White Sox fan, preferring as a kid to watch Yankees games so he could track favorite player Derek Jeter. But he’s spent plenty of time in the seats at Guaranteed Rate Field, including for Game 2 of the World Series in 2005. Maybe that’s one of those White Sox teams he remembers that played with the type of style this one is trying to emulate.

Whether it’s Getz, Grifol or Lopez, these White Sox seem dedicated to showing fans something plenty different in 2024, even if the front office’s moves haven’t added up to a team that looks ready to set the world on fire.

If you’re looking for the exact type of different identity Getz is working to change, watch the second baseman this season. The local product.

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