Gavin Sheets lost 15-20 pounds over the winter as he transitions to the outfield, Bernardo Flores had to fight back tears in the dugout after his first MLB appearance, and Danny Mendick used to rollerblade to the ballpark pulled behind another player’s scooter.
These are among the highlights from the Winston-Salem Dash’s 2021 Virtual Hot Stove Banquet held February 17 via Zoom. Hosted by White Sox play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, the event featured interviews with Sheets, Flores and Mendick along with White Sox Assistant GM Chris Getz and Hall of Famer Jim Thome.
First up with Benetti for a one-on-one interview was Sheets, who said he spent the off-season getting leaner and learning to play the outfield. With Jose Abreu and Andrew Vaughn firmly entrenched ahead of him at first base, adding outfield skills could create playing time opportunities for Sheets.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to come in and and play multiple positions,” Sheets said. “I think I can bring a left-handed bat to the lineup. Obviously we have tremendous hitters, especially on the right side of the plate. So to kind of balance out the lineup a little bit and add to that side, I’m excited.”
Sheets spent the winter working out at his former high school in Baltimore.
“It has like a 50-yard field that I’ve been able to get creative on with some of the drills,” the soon-to-be 25 year old said. “I’m also going to get out to spring training a little early, so I can get acclimated to the high sky in Arizona as well as get as many reps and as much batting practice in as possible before we really get going. But yeah, it’s just being creative, trying to get first-step quickness drills in.”
When it was his turn behind the microphone, Flores recalled the intense emotion after his first MLB outing, a relief appearance last September 3 against the Royals.
“I shook Coop’s hand when they told me I was done, and I thought of everything that I had to overcome,” he said. “I had to overcome a lot of obstacles and the one thing that I always believed in my mind was that I was going to be a major league pitcher some day. And when it actually happened, I sat back on the bench and I thought, man, after everything that I’ve been through, I was holding back the tears.”
Flores recalled that it was his second stint at Winston-Salem when his career began to flourish. He first appeared in a Dash uniform in 2017, making 9 starts, with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. A year later, things began to click, and the 6-foot-4, 190-pound lefty posted a 2.55 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 12 starts in Winston-Salem.
“My first pass at Winston-Salem was a little rough,” he said. “I had to take a good amount of licks.”
Flores explained the transition from low A to Winston-Salem. In Kannapolis, he noted, he really just had to navigate his way through the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters. But, in High-A, all nine hitters were as tough as those three guys in Kannapolis.
“So it was rough in the beginning,” Flores said. “I had to make some adjustments. And by the time I got back to Winston-Salem the next year, I was familiar with the territory. I knew what to expect. It was clear what I needed to do and I just started rolling from there.”
Likewise, it was in Winston-Salem when Mendick learned to take his game to another level.
“I grew up as a player in Winston-Salem the most in my career,” Mendick explained. “In Single A, I was a little more laid back. I was a grinder, but I was sometimes a little timid and (in Winston-Salem) I figured out that when you’re in between the lines, you lay everything on the line. It is all about you and the team. Screw the other team, you’re trying to beat them. I think that was a big turning point in my career because it made me into a dirt bag, baseball player who wanted to grind out things and be that guy that they don’t want to face.”
Mendick’s first stop in Winston-Salem was in 2016, a season in which he also made stops in Kannapolis and Charlotte.
“That season developed me into the player that I am today,” Mendick said. “Not to take anything for granted, to understand my role and and to put ego aside and accept that role. It was a tough year for my ego but it made me a better baseball player. I was able to handle adversity better.”
But Mendick also let his fun-loving personality flourish with the Dash. And that included rollerblading to the ballpark behind teammate Brannon Easterling’s scooter!
“He’d either pull me behind the scooter on my rollerblades or I’d rollerblade to the ballpark myself,” Mendick recalled. “I shouldn’t tell the organization that, but it was fun. Yeah,that’s how we got to the field sometimes. We lived literally two minutes away from the ballpark. So it was beautiful out and we would just ride over there, take our time, grab some lunch. “
On the White Sox roster in 2020, Mendick said he was especially inspired by teammate James McCann.
He’s the same way, you know, unbelievable guy off the field and as a teammate. But when it got in between the lines, he was a competitor, he was a grinder. So, that’s the standard that I hold myself to. My goal always is to be the best teammate and the best player that I can be whenever I’m called on. No matter when the situation arises, if they put my name in the lineup, they ask me to pinch hit, pinch run, whatever, I’m gonna try to do it the right way and try to help the team win.
Danny Mendick on James McCann
Mendick hit .243 in 107 at bats for the White Sox last season, with four doubles, one triple, three home runs and six RBIs.
Getz, meanwhile, began his conversation with Benetti by praising the 2021 Dash staff.
“Ryan Newman has been with the organization for some time now,” Getz said. “He’s a very experienced manager, with great people skills. And his on-field instruction is excellent. He’s a good leader in the clubhouse and our players really respect him. He communicates well with me and our coordinators, and he’s an up-and-coming guy not only within the organization, but in the game.”
“We’ve also got Danny Farquhar (pitching coach), who’s just getting started,” Getz continued. “I know many White Sox fans are familiar with him as a player but, as an instructor so far, I’ve been really impressed. He’s a very bright guy, very high energy, bilingual. And then we have Mike Daniel (hitting coach), another guy that I feel fortunate that we were able to get into the organization. He played with the Washington Nationals up to Triple-A, a high-energy guy. He’s already built great relationships with our players through his short period of time here.”
Eyeing the 2021 roster in Winston-Salem, Getz said it might not take long before recently drafted hurlers like Jared Kelley, Andrew Dalquist and Matt Thompson make their way onto the Dash roster.
“We also have Lenyn Sosa, Jose Rodriguez, Bryan Ramos, Benyamin Bailey and some young international players who got started at the Arizona level and will probably spend some time in Kannapolis before working their way up to Winston-Salem,” Getz said.
Appearing last in the Zoom call, Thome was the headliner for the evening. Thome, 50, hit 612 homers in his career, including a MLB record 13 walk-off long balls. He is a 2018 Hall of Fame inductee who spent 3 and one-half seasons with the White Sox in 2006-2010 after 12 years in Cleveland and three in Philadelphia.
A left-handed hitter with natural left-center power, Thome said it was a tip from Charlie Manuel that helped him tap into pull-side power.
“As I was going up the ladder,” Thome recalled, “I was having difficulty pulling the ball with authority. My stance blocked me off from truly pulling the ball. Charlie said, ‘look, Jim, at the end of the day, I don’t want to lose your left-center feel, but I want to gain center field to right field.’
“And when he put my back foot closer to home plate, he opened my hips up a little bit. And that completely changed everything. Charlie would say that a little bit means a lot. One tweak, one little adjustment, whether you’re a 13-year-old, a 20-year-old or a 35-year-old in the big leagues, one little tweak of your body mechanics can completely change everything. And I saw the difference instantly, I became comfortable and my confidence was there.”
Thome said it was in Double-A that he first began believing that he could be a successful major leaguer. But it wasn’t until after he had completed his first full season with Cleveland that he was finally convinced he had staying power.
At the twilight of his career, be became a dependable, late-inning, high-leverage pinch hitter, facing some of the games best relievers.
“And they just don’t make mistakes there,” Thome explained. “Their stuff around the zone is so good that if you get one pitch to hit, you may not get another one that good for the rest of the at bat. But, I’ll be honest, I loved the challenge. I loved to be put in the situation late in the game to either tie it or win it. Yeah. That was the best feeling ever.”
The Dash are scheduled to begin the season on June 1 in Greensboro (NC), with the home opener a week later.
Photo credit: Clinton Cole/FutureSox
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