The long journey from first pitch of the Cactus League opener to last pitch of the regular season spans seven-plus months, more than enough time to measure the growth of a 20-something prospect whose future already seems written in stone.
Eloy Jimenez, Nick Madrigal and Dylan Cease enter opening day of the White Sox’s spring season Saturday with similar visions and confidence, but nothing can be taken for granted in this game, no matter your ranking on anyone’s top 100 list.
If they had any question about that, the Sox kids only had to look across the clubhouse at Michael Kopech.