TORONTO — It always took Chris Getz a little time to adjust to the extra bounce that the old Rogers Centre AstroTurf would give to ground balls whenever he was patrolling its infield.
“There was no other stadium or field to compare it to,” Getz said Saturday on the revamped diamond that was significantly quirkier when he played the last game of his career on it in 2014.
Before working his way to the White Sox’ front office, Getz got some more practice on that unique surface in his last 10 games as a second baseman for Toronto before hanging up his spikes.
“But at the very least, it was consistent,” Getz said. “You knew what you were getting.”
If only the Sox’ rebuild were that easy to figure out.
Approaching the two-year mark of his tenure as general manager of a team expected to blow past the 100-loss mark again, Getz hasn’t gotten a full read on the bevy of prospects that Sox brass is sorting through to turn the ship around. But he hopes fans can follow the big-picture progress that is still taking some funky bounces toward competitiveness.
It’s not the easiest sell for a Sox team that logged its 53rd loss on the first full day of summer, this after the historic 121-loss season in 2024.
“When you have a record like we have, you’re never feeling good,” Getz told the Sun-Times. “There’s obviously a lag in terms of really getting the organization feeling the impact and fans recognizing it, or the people that are following closely. That’s really been the commitment from the beginning, to focus on these foundation pieces of the organization.”
He pointed to the Sox’ investments in sabermetric research and biomechanical analysis, the team’s revamped international development process and a bolstered scouting system that has the team “as prepared as we’ve ever been before” for the MLB Draft on July 13.
“You’ve really got to stay in that and stay focused and continue to pour into that, knowing that good things will come out of it,” Getz said.
He acknowledged ugly stretches like the Sox’ recent eight-game losing streak can make it tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel with a regularly churning roster. And even the 41-year-old GM has to “remind myself that although that’s really frustrating and we need to get better there, to finish close games, so much of where we are right now is in things that are underneath, per se, in just the foundation of the organization.”
Getz didn’t tip his hand on the Sox’ draft strategy but said his interest is piqued by some premium high school position players.
“When you’re picking 10, you’re at the mercy of what happens in front of you,” he said.
The Sox have 10 rookies on the active roster, “and there will be more,” Getz said. After a brutal start to his season, prized shortstop Colson Montgomery will have to find a better groove at Triple-A Charlotte before he gets the call.
“We’re looking for him to be as consistent as he can be putting together quality at-bats,’’ Getz said. ‘‘He’s run into some homers here and there. He’s continuing to play solid defense, but we want to make sure that the foundational piece of his offensive game is in a good spot before we bring him up.”
As for Getz’s biggest trade-deadline asset, Luis Robert Jr., he said “we’re not actively shopping him by any stretch,” but he’s still getting calls about the slumping center fielder and expects his phone to light up even more after the draft.
“Last night, before the game, I’m watching [Robert] take batting practice, and he’s hitting the ball up to the hotel here” above the Rogers Centre outfield, Getz said. “It really is amazing what he can do. Now we all know the game is more than that. It’s putting in consistent at-bats to be an overall productive major-league player.”