The art of the bat flip isn’t something you can teach.
“You just have to do it,” Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said.
But Anderson did his best to share his techniques when he hosted a bat-flipping seminar on the second day of SoxFest.
During the event, about 100 kids took turns tossing plastic bats.
Some contestants aggressively chucked them down the third-base line, while others did literal flips after ditching their bats.
Anderson, who caught backlash last season for his bat flips, felt inspired by some of the contestants’ creativity.
“It’s definitely changing the game, you can see it,” said Anderson, the American League batting champion last season. “These kids come here and they enjoy those moments and that’s fun for them.”
The Astros
New right-handed reliever Steve Cishek said the Cubs were certain that the Astros were stealing their signs during a game last season but didn’t have clear evidence. Cishek said he would prefer facing a batter using performance-enhancing drugs rather than one who knows what pitch is coming.
At a kids’ Q&A session at SoxFest, catcher Yasmani Grandal said “the Astros are like the Patriots of baseball, right? They found a loophole, it worked out. But it’s a question that will keep coming up.”
Grandal’s Dodgers lost to new teammate Dallas Keuchel’s Astros in the 2017 World Series.
“It kind of sucks when you’ve got a guy [Keuchel] that’s here,” Grandal said. “We spoke. I know exactly how he feels about it. But hey, it happened, and it’s in the past.’’
Latest prospect rankings
MLB Pipeline released its updated list of top 100 prospects, which includes four Sox: center fielder Luis Robert (No. 3), first baseman Andrew Vaughn (16) right-hander Michael Kopech (20) and second baseman Nick Madrigal (40).
Kopech will arrive at spring training with no restrictions after Tommy John Surgery in September 2018. Also, he is at least 20 pounds lighter, married to actress Vanessa Morgan and no longer using social media.
Robert signed a $50 million contract before playing his first major-league game.
“That means a lot, because that shows that the team trusts me and trusts my abilities,” he said. “I think I’m ready to show and to prove that I’m worth that confidence that they have put in me.”
Strange but true
A year after the Sox took a public-relations beating for not signing Manny Machado, one fan at the Q&A session with general manager Rick Hahn and manager Rick Renteria thanked Hahn “for not spending $300 million on Bryce Harper or Manny Machado,” a comment followed by a fair amount of applause.
The new venue
The new venue at McCormick Place put the fan convention in one large space (more than 100,000 square feet) rather than the setup at the Chicago Hilton, which spread things out over multiple floors and rooms, but many fans said it felt crowded and noted less seating this year.
The Sox might explore using more space at McCormick Place in 2021.
“We saw a record SoxFest crowd of more than 10,000 over two days,” a Sox spokesperson said. “We make adjustments each and every year to make SoxFest bigger and welcome as many fans as possible.”
Contributing: Daryl Van Schouwen
