White Sox closer David Robertson: World Baseball Classic ‘gets you … – Chicago Tribune
Jose Quintana stopped by White Sox reliever Nate Jones’ locker to offer a hug and congratulations Friday morning at Camelback Ranch.
Sox closer David Robertson couldn’t get infielder Yolmer Sanchez to stop hugging him.
“He’s a big hugger,” Robertson said.
Needless to say, the Sox were happy to have their two most important bullpen pieces back at Camelback Ranch after they spent nearly three weeks away to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic.
Robertson and Jones were happy to be back too, but both seemed pretty wired still from helping the U.S. team win its first WBC title.
“To be honest with you, it felt like playoff baseball really early in the year,” Robertson said. “Just coming from Miami, trying to win a couple days in there was really hard. Fans were really loud. That place was a very intense environment, and it didn’t feel like you were the home team at all.”
Jones and Robertson raved about the way Team USA meshed quickly, and they also enjoyed watching their Sox teammates across the field, including Quintana’s performance for Colombia that Jones called “something special.”
Robertson said the crowd began to feel like a home-field advantage in the second and championship rounds in San Diego and Los Angeles. Jones said it was a “pretty cool moment” to hear the crowd chanting USA.
“You’re proud of representing your country, and once they did that, it all kind of set in, like, ‘Wow, this is happening,’” Jones said.
Robertson gave up one earned run on four hits with no walks and two strikeouts over his 3 2/3 innings pitched in the tournament. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the 8-0 championship victory over Team Puerto Rico, an assignment that surprised him.
“I thought (Luke) Gregerson was going to get it, he’d pitched so well, had so many big saves for us,” Robertson said. “When they told me I was going out there, I was kind of unsure of what to do. I was like, just throw strikes and get three outs. (Marcus) Stroman and everyone else has done the rest of the job for me.”
Jones allowed one earned run on one hit with two walks and three strikeouts in four innings.
He said he brought his gold medal to camp in his pocket Friday because “I don’t want to stow it away or put it in a safe box just yet.”
“That was my first taste of kind of like a championship, a tournament or a postseason, anything like that,” Jones said. “It was an awesome experience, and you want to do that here on the South Side. That’s one of our goals. That drives us to do that.”
With 10 days to go before the season opener, Robertson and Jones will now try to return to their season preparation. Jones said he expected to throw a sideline for pitching coach Don Cooper, who he said had been keeping up with their progress while they were gone.
Robertson said he almost has to slow himself down after pitching in high-intensity situations so early in spring. He said he has never felt so prepared for the season.
“It gets you ready quick,” he said. “You better be ready, because those guys are coming. Those other teams wanted to win it just as bad as we did.”
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