Pitchers and catchers relationship takes shape amid White Sox win streak

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Starting pitching has spurred the White Sox’ turnaround as of late. The team is 9-7 in its last 16 games. During that span, starters have allowed 33 runs over 82 ⅔ innings pitched. Sox manager Pedro Grifol credits the catchers for the improved pitching display.

“The starting pitching’s been really good,” Grifol said. “I attribute that to the relationship between the catchers and pitchers that takes a little time. You can have five weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks of spring training; it’s never the same as when the season starts. When that bell rings, there’s just a little different feel, a little different anxiety.”

Tendencies can only be learned through time and experience working with a starter and building a plan in meetings

The entire Sox staff was new to the organization — or, in the case of Garrett Crochet, a first-time starter — so there wasn’t a foundation to build on, just a blank slate. Catchers Korey Lee and Martin Maldonado have improved their positioning behind the plate and their presentation when they’re calling a specific pitch. Grifol is pleased to see how much the catchers are working to improve play calling.

“The attention to detail has really picked up,” Grifol said. “The recall that [catching coach] Drew Butera is forcing these guys to go through after the game. Just the attention to detail part of it. In that aspect, I’m happy with what our catchers are doing with our pitching staff and the job Drew and [pitchers coach] Ethan Katz and [bullpen coach] Matt Wise are doing preparing for a game.”

John Brebbia’s impact

Entering Sunday's game, Sox relievers had a 2.34 ERA while limiting opponents to a .180 batting average and .597 OPS entering Sunday’s game.

Reliever John Brebbia has strung together some impressive performances out of the bullpen. After Saturday’s scoreless inning, Brebbia has four scoreless innings in his last six appearances. Brebbia’s season started off shaky after landing on the IL with a right calf strain on April 8 (retroactive to April 6).

“John is very regimented,” reliever Tanner Banks told the Sun-Times. “He's very good at documenting and tracking. So for him, it's the same thing every day. Whether he's the first one out of the pen or the last one, starts his routine at the same time.”

Brebbia utilizes two pitches (a four-seam fastball and slider), but he’s aggressive in his approach and limits miscues. The veteran right-hander has a 30.8% strikeout rate and walks batters just 3.8% of the time.

“He goes right after guys,” Banks said. “He's a bulldog on the mound. It's impressive because sometimes, as pitchers, we try to do more than we're capable of, and he has had a lot of success in this game doing what you see every day with the fastball and slider.”

This and that

First baseman Andrew Vaughn hit his first homer of the season in Friday’s game vs. the Guardians. He added two doubles during the series, breaking out of his early-season funk.

"Hit the ball hard and good things will work out," Vaughn said.

• Grifol said second baseman Danny Mendick (back tightness) will be on a rehab assignment in the next day or two and play a couple of games in Charlotte.