White Sox manager Pedro Grifol believes Gavin Sheets is a victim of defensive circumstances and reinforced his faith by starting him Sunday in left field, four days after taking a tumble while trying to catch a deep fly by Ryan Jeffers at Minnesota.

“I have complete confidence in him playing the outfield,” Grifol said. “I’ve seen that happen over and over and over again in the major leagues. It’s just one play. It doesn’t define who he is as a defensive player, and it definitely doesn’t define what he brings to us as a player in general.”

Sheets validated Grifol’s declaration by making a long running catch of Adley Rutschman’s drive across the left field foul line in the top of the first inning, and then hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning.

Sheets didn’t play the outfield until the 2021 season at Triple-A Charlotte after playing first base at Wake Forest and the minors.

“To be honest with you, I think he wears more of it because there were some guys out of position last year, and the team wore it, right?” said Grifol, who was a coach with the Royals for 10 previous seasons. “And the organization wore it. And maybe that’s what’s a part of it. I don’t know. I don’t know what people think.

“I know what we evaluate and what we see, and the work we see being done.”

Catching a solution

Offseason surgery and subsequent rehabilitation has helped catcher Yasmani Grandal’s defense, as evidence by being able to throw out the Orioles’ Jorge Mateo on a steal attempt on his left knee to complete a double play in the sixth inning of the Sox’s win Saturday.

“I’m definitely moving way better,” Grandal said. “My blocking is definitely improved. My throws down to second have definitely improved. The receiving is improved. I started off on a good note, so hopefully I can start building off of that.”

Grandal believes more teams are making a collective effort to thwart base stealers, an ominous task because of the limits on attempting pickoff throws to first base and a slight increase on the size of bases.

This and that

Pitcher Dylan Cease moved his PitchCom gadget to his belt in the second because the device would’t stick to his glove. … Infielder Hanser Alberto was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Saturday, due to a left quad strain. The contract of outfielder Adam Haseley was purchased from Charlotte, and infielder/outfielder Nick Solak was designated for assignment. … The start of Sunday’s game was delayed by two hours, 22 minutes due to rain.