KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Though it was expected that James Shields would start on Opening Day for the White Sox, plenty of fans on social media still reacted inquisitively, wondering why it wasn’t Lucas Giolito getting the ball in Thursday’s season-opener against the Kansas City Royals.
The 2017 results couldn’t have been more different for the two hurlers. Shields, in his first full season on the South Side after 2016’s trade with the San Diego Padres, was roughed up for a 5.23 ERA and 27 home runs allowed in 117 innings. Giolito made seven late-season starts and dazzled to the tune of a 2.38 ERA.
You can think what you want about Shields, a 12-year major league veteran, but it sounds like there’s no one the White Sox themselves would rather have on the hill in the first game of the 2018 season.
“That’s Papa Shields,” shortstop Tim Anderson said ahead of Wednesday’s team workout at Kauffman Stadium. “He’s definitely a great teammate. I’m excited to play behind him. He’s going to be ready. He’s got good stuff.”
“Oh he gets you going,” outfielder Nicky Delmonico said. “If you’re not going that day, he’ll get you going. He’s going to bring everything he’s got every day. It’s awesome for young guys to see that coming to the field.”
The young guys on this young-and-getting-younger White Sox team like to talk about the roster’s elder statesman. Shields has been painted as a mentor type not only to younger starting pitchers like Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Carson Fulmer but to young players at every position. Along with fellow vets like Miguel Gonzalez and Jose Abreu, Shields’ role on this team seems to be as much about bringing along the players of the White Sox future as it is winning games in the present.
“You don’t spend the amount of time at the major league level, doing what he’s been doing, without gaining some experience, knowledge and the ability to impart at least some of it with the guys he’s playing alongside,” manager Rick Renteria said. “There’s a calmness to him. He’s been around a while. He knows what’s going on. More than anything, the way he goes about his business, he has a certain routine that he follows. They see how he goes about it. Win, lose or draw, he gives you the same type of approach every single time he goes out there. Hopefully it’s something they can cling onto.”
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“I’m definitely the veteran on this team, for sure, there’s no doubt. It’s awesome,” Shields said. “These kids are great. They come up to me, ask me a lot of questions. More than anything, they’re just fun dudes. They’re fun dudes to hang around, and I’m enjoying myself.”
Shields has plenty of experience in this kind of situation to draw on. He’ll pitch against the Royals, his former team that ascended from rebuilding project to World Series contender when he came aboard. He had two very successful seasons in Kansas City, the second ending in the first of the Crowns’ back-to-back trips to the Fall Classic.
Prior to that, he was one of the young arms in Tampa Bay, where the Rays went from perennial bottom-feeders to American League champions in 2008. Shields has 11 postseason starts under his belt, something that’s pretty cool for these young guys with such big expectations to hear about.
“Last night, we were at dinner and we were showing him some highlights of some of his postseason play. He’s making jokes. It’s just a lot of fun to be around him,” outfielder Adam Engel said. “We were showing him his highlights, and he was walking us through what he’s thinking. And it’s just funny to see what he was saying. One time he was like, ‘I probably said this.’ And then we watched and we read his lips, and it was years ago but that’s exactly what he said. Man, this guy’s a gem.”
Shields, though, has the experience of the minor league hype turning into tangible postseason success. That’s something the White Sox can only hope for at this point in the rebuild.
“It definitely reminds me a lot of what the Royals were when I was over there and as well as in Tampa when I was in Tampa,” Shields said. “We can sit here and say that all day long, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to produce, we’ve got to get the wins and move forward. But right now we’re in the right direction.”
Shields is an asset in the clubhouse, though he might end up providing value in a different way should he have a strong first few months of the season. Discovering his old magic could make him an attractive trade chip at the deadline, and Rick Hahn’s front office could turn the veteran starting pitcher into another prospect or two to help advance the rebuild.
But right now, as the season dawns and he’s the first person to throw a pitch for the 2018 White Sox, he’ll try to lead this group of young players. This team might not be expected to contend for a championship this season, but they are expected to play a certain way, develop a certain way and follow Renteria’s lead. Shields is definitely on board with all that, and he’ll be leading the charge behind the scenes, even if his numbers more closely resemble 2017 compared to 2011.
“I’m excited about this team right now,” he said. “I’m excited about where we’re at mentally. The chemistry that we built in spring training this year was in my opinion one of the best I’ve ever been around. I’m excited to be around here.
“You have to have the right group of guys for sure and really buying into the process of what Ricky Renteria is putting out there. We’re all buying into what he’s all about, and that’s hard-nosed baseball. And if we all stay on the same page the whole entire year, we’re going to have some fun and we’re going to play well doing it.”