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  • Williams, fellow rookies take to Bears rookie minicamp

    Williams, fellow rookies take to Bears rookie minicamp

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    CHICAGO — After the first day of Chicago Bears rookie minicamp, head coach Matt Eberflus put the kibosh on any controversy surrounding the Bears’ quarterback position.

    “No conversation,” Eberflus said during media availability Friday. “He’s the starter.”

    “He” being No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams, which should come as no surprise to absolutely anyone.

    Before the Bears made him the top pick in this year’s draft, they shipped incumbent starter Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth round pick, and then signed quarterback Brett Rypien to serve as their third-string QB behind backup Tyson Bagent, laying the groundwork for Williams to be QB1 the moment he set foot in Halas Hall.

    That moment was Friday, as Williams and fellow rookies Rome Odunze, Kiran Amegadjie, Tory Taylor and Austin Booker — Along with a contingent of undrafted free agents — took to the practice fields at the Bears’ facilities in north suburban Lake Forest for the team’s rookie minicamp.

    “Right now, I feel pretty good,” Williams said Friday. “We’ll go out here today, I’m going to have a few mess ups probably, and things like that, working to eliminate those as fast as possible.”

    Williams told media members Friday that he had started receiving notes and ideas of how Chicago’s offense runs as far back as his Top 30 prospect visit with the Bears in the beginning of April.

    Those notes included everything from “verbiage, drops, cadence and all the things that really matter — Breaking the huddle, getting in the huddle, being able to communicate, and how those things go,” according to Williams.

    Once he gets those touchpoints down, Williams said he hopes he can get to a point where he can “teach” because that would allow him to both help other guys take the next step within the Bears’ offensive scheme, and give himself a measuring stick of how much he knows.

    “Being able to teach is always big because it’s also another way for you to learn,” Williams said.

    Even with how aggressively his new starting quarterback has attacked preparing to be under center for the Bears, Eberflus fell back on one of his calling card colloquialisms to describe how he want’s Williams to be as they head through rookie minicamp.

    “Just be where your feet are,” Eberflus said. “Be in that moment, be in the play, execute that play, turn the page, go to the next play, and that’s what the elite guys do, and that’s what we expect from him.”

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    Eli Ong

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  • Sox trade Grossman for pitching prospect from Rangers

    Sox trade Grossman for pitching prospect from Rangers

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    Sox also called up an infielder to fill Grossman’s roster spot

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Chicago White Sox have traded outfielder Robbie Grossman to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a right-handed pitching prospect, according to a press release from the team Wednesday.

    The White Sox are receiving Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, a relief pitcher with the Rangers’ Double-A affiliate, the Frisco RoughRiders. In 12 relief appearances so far this season, Hoopii-Tuionetoa is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, one save, 16 strikeouts and one unearned run over 12.1 innings pitched.

    The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Hoopii-Tuionetoa ranks among the Texas League relief leaders in ERA (1st), WHIP (2nd), opponents average (2nd, .167), strikeout-to-walk rate (3rd, 4.00), strikeouts per 9.0 IP (7th, 11.68) and strikeouts (8th).

    He has been assigned to the roster of Class AA Birmingham.

    A native of Wailuku, Hawai’i, Hoopii-Tuionetoa was named a 2022 MiLB organizational All-Star after going 4-3 with a 3.09 ERA, eight saves and 67 strikeouts in 36 games for Single-A Down East in his first full season.

    Hoopii-Tuionetoa is 9-7 with a 3.15 ERA, 18 saves and 146 strikeouts in 83 career games over four seasons and 103 innings pitched in the Rangers organization.

    He originally was selected by Texas in the 30th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft
    out of Pierce College in Washington.

    Grossman, who was signed as a minor league free agent back on March 22, is hitting .211/.329/.268 with four doubles, four RBI’s, 13 walks and six runs scored over 25 games with the White Sox this season.

    For Grossman, it’s a return to a team he played for last year and an opportunity to receive his World Series championship ring a little bit early. In 115 games for the Rangers in 2023, Grossman slashed .238/.340/.394 with ten home runs, 23 doubles and 49 RBI’s.

    Since Hoopii-Tuionetoa has been assigned to Double-A and Grossman is now in Texas, Chicago also purchased the contract of Zach Remillard from the Triple-A Charlotte Knights to fill Grossman’s roster spot.

    Remillard has appeared in two games with the White Sox in 2024, going 1-5 with a run scored. He was designated for assignment back on April 22.

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    Eli Ong

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  • Nick Nastrini shines in MLB debut for the White Sox

    Nick Nastrini shines in MLB debut for the White Sox

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    CHICAGO — While the Chicago White Sox added another tally to the loss column on Monday, it was still an evening that begged the question, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” — Especially in the cases of Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure.

    The two rookie pitchers both made appearances on the mound Monday — Nastrini his Major League Baseball debut as a starting pitcher, and Leasure his sixth appearance out of the White Sox bullpen so far this year.

    “It was an out of body experience. It was everything I hoped it to be,” Nastrini said after the game, smiling from ear-to-ear. “I don’t really have a whole lot of words to describe it because there’s not really words I can use to describe it. That’s how fun it was.”

    Nastrini ended up going five full innings while giving up two runs on three hits and two walks to go with five strikeouts.

    Leasure pitched a 1-2-3 scoreless frame in the top of the seventh, keeping his ERA at a flat 0.00 through six games and 6.1 innings pitched in 2024.

    It should be the first of many times the two share a mound in a White Sox uniform.

    “I was just texting some of my friends, telling them I feel like a proud big brother,” Leasure said postgame. “That was really special for him and it was special for me to be able to be there with him.”

    Nastrini and Leasure were the two prospects who came over at the 2023 deadline in a trade that saw Chicago send Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers for them and Trayce Thompson.

    Leasure made his major league debut on March 30 against the Detroit Tigers, but the two share a history that spans back several years in the minor leagues.

    Both were selected by the Dodgers in the 2021 MLB amateur draft and followed similar ascents through the Los Angeles farm system, playing together in the Arizona Complex League (rookie ball) and at Rancho Cucamonga (Low-A) in 2021, all the way up to Tulsa (Double-A) and eventually Charlotte (Triple-A) when the two were traded to Chicago in 2023.

    For Nastrini, who had an 11-person contingent at the ballpark cheering him on Monday, those five innings were the culmination in a long grind that included everything from working within the parameters of professional baseball, to playing catch and throwing extra bullpen sessions with friends and family to get him right along the way.

    “My buddy Noah out there, I play catch with him every day during the offseason. My brother Jake, he catches my bullpens,” Nastrini said. “It makes me a little emotional talking about it. He catches my bullpens with no gear on — He’s out there taking spiked sliders to the shins for me during COVID and times after that too.

    “So, having my dad, my mom, my sister, they’re my biggest support system. My friends and family mean the absolute world to me so, it meant a lot to have them out there.”

    White Sox manager Pedro Grifol remarked after the game that Nastrini’s presence stood out as far back as a fan fest event at Guaranteed Rate Field in January. At the time, Grifol said Nastrini threw a bullpen and in the moment, he could tell “that’s what good ones look like.”

    “It was an emotional day for him … But I thought he was as expected — Under control, good presence, pounded the strike zone, think he retired the first 11 [batters],” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol. “He left a pitch out over the plate for [Vinnie] Pasquantino and a seeing-eye single by [Kyle] Isbel, other than that, I thought it was a really good outing.”

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    Eli Ong

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