GLENDALE, AZ – If memories of the 2023 White Sox bring back nothing but pain, there are two young pitchers inside the spring training clubhouse who will hopefully help you heal.
Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure represent the future of the White Sox pitching staff, and quite possibly the near future.
Ask them who's going to get to the majors first and when, Nastrini doesn't hesitate with his answer.
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"Oh, it's going to be Jordan for sure," said Nastrini, sitting next to Leasure in a conversation on the White Sox Talk Podcast. "I think he has a very good chance of breaking with the team."
The baseball bond between Nastrini and Leasure is strong, and not just because they were traded together from the Dodgers to the White Sox last summer.
They were also drafted together. They were minor league teammates together. They once even shared a single locker together in Class-A.
"We vibe really well together," Nastrini explained. "We have the same sense of humor. Whenever I have trouble with anything I go to him. If I need a piece of advice I go to him. He's kind of like a sounding board for me.
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For a few minutes last July, it appeared that the bond between Nastrini and Leasure was going to be broken.
Word spread around their clubhouse in Double-A Tulsa that the Dodgers had acquired Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly from the White Sox. Nobody knew who the Dodgers were giving up in return, but everyone on the Drillers minor league team was on high alert, knowing that a phone call from the Dodgers farm director would mean they'd likely be packing their bags.
Nastrini was working out in the gym when his phone rang. He was the first to go.
"(Nick) came into the locker room after he found out and told everyone, 'I just got traded,'" Leasure recalled. "We were giving him hugs. I sat back down at my locker. I was getting ready for the game because we were playing in a couple hours. And then I get a text from the Dodgers farm director saying, 'Hey call me.'"
Leasure was joining Nastrini, both headed to the White Sox.
"I went into our pitching coach's office and Nick was already sitting in there talking with them. They looked at me and went, 'No way, you too,'" Leasure said. "I remember walking in there and (Nastrini) looked at me. I feel like you had excitement in your eyes that you weren't going alone."
Nastrini agreed.
"Yeah, there were so many emotions going through my mind. I was feeling so many things. To have a familiar face going with me, I was happy since he and I were super close at the time and still are, it was very refreshing."
A 6-3 right-hander currently ranked 6th in the White Sox farm system, Nastrini has "pretty much everything you want in a starter," Leasure said when asked for a scouting report about his close friend and teammate. "He's got reliability. You know he's going to give you everything he has for as long as he can until you take the ball from him. I've seen him throw 6 or 7 innings and just be dominant. He has four pitches that he can throw for strikes whenever he wants now."
So far in spring training, Nastrini has been one of the best White Sox pitchers in camp. Saturday, he threw two scoreless innings against the Rangers on a day when Texas put 14 runs on the board.
With Dylan Cease, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka, Chris Flexen and Michael Kopech seemingly penciled in for the rotation to start the season, at least for now, Nastrini is doing what he can to make things interesting before the starting rotation is announced before Opening Day on March 28.
"I definitely feel like I have a good shot," Nastrini said about making the rotation sometime in 2024. "There's 26 guys who are going to Chicago, but we're going to need 40-45 guys. There's definitely going to be some room for opportunity whether it's breaking with the team out of spring training or whether it's a month into the season or the middle of the season. There's definitely going to be opportunity for me to get there for sure."
While Nastrini dreams about being a White Sox starter, he's all-in on Leasure being the team's future closer.
"Absolutely. Come on man. That's not a tough question at all. That's an easy one," Nastrini said about Leasure. "He's the kind of guy that I want coming in after me. If I'm going 6 or 7 innings, I have a runner on second and third or I need someone to close the game out for me, he's the guy that I want to give the ball to. Honestly, I've never played with anybody that I want to give the ball to except for him. And I've played with a lot of people. He's like one of the only guy that I trust to give the ball to. Maybe there's one other person, but he's the only one I want to give the ball to."
Sitting a few inches away, Leasure smiled, but wasn't willing to go as far as Nastrini did in his quest to become the closer one day.
"We'll see," Leasure said. "Obviously, that's my goal. But right now my goal is just to make the team and do what I can to help the team win in whatever role that is and in the future if that's what happens, I'll embrace that, but I'll go one step at a time for now."
Baby steps? Giant leaps? Leasure and Nastrini are making progress. At some point, they'll be teammates in Chicago. Together. Again.