Thursday, February 27

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- There were 75 occasions when José Contreras took the mound at what is now known as Rate Field, with 73 coming as a starter.

Contreras pitched in the 2005 American League Division Series, AL Championship Series and World Series for the champion White Sox in front of euphoric sold-out crowds. He was dominant at times in regular-season contests and won more games than he lost.

But nothing compared to what took place on the Rate Field mound during a contest last season on July 24, when Contreras’ son, Joseph, pitched for the East All-Stars as part of the annual Double Duty Classic.

“He came in from the bullpen, and I cried like a baby,” José said at SoxFest Live. “After that, he pitched two innings very good. That feeling was like ‘Oh, my God, he’s on the same mound I pitched for a long time.’”

“It was incredible, actually,” added Joseph, as he stood next to his father at the Ramova Theatre in Chicago. “I got on the mound and started looking around, and I was like, ‘Wow, I’m on the same mound my dad pitched on.’ That’s really cool. I thought of the history, and it was just amazing. I can’t even put it into words, honestly.”

Joseph is 16 years old and pitches as a junior at Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Ga., with José serving as an assistant coach. He already is as tall as his father, who stands at a sturdy 6-foot-4 and may be able to claim a little bit taller.

His fastball velocity has topped out at 95 mph in the bullpen, although Joseph usually works in the 90-93 mph area. He listed off a four-seam, two-seam, curve and changeup as part of his repertoire, along with a forkball, with his dad using a form of that pitch to produce a successful 11-year career in the Majors and nine more in Cuba.

“Yeah, he showed me,” Joseph said of the forkball. “That was the first pitch I learned to throw. Spread the fingers, grab it and throw it.”

“When he was little, like 3 or 4 years old, he always got the ball and put it in his hand and watched me on TV doing that,” José said. “He started throwing the forkball at 9 or 10 years old.”

By José’s recollection, his son has been attached to baseball since he was 1 or 2 years old. Joseph remembers a video of when he was 1 1/2, where his dad would underhand him pitches, as he was coming back from Tommy John surgery, and he hit the ball.

But Joseph truly recalls Father’s Day activities when José was with Philadelphia from 2010-12, where he got to play on the field with other kids and hang out with his dad. He not only wants to reach his dad’s Major League prowess, but really wants to surpass it.

“I want to be a Hall of Famer,” Joseph said with a confident smile.

Upon hearing his son’s comments, José laughed with a look of slight shock. He quickly added a father’s voice of reason.

“Oh my God, it’s easy to say, but there’s a lot of work to do,” José said. “I would say to him you have to focus on education. I teach him and his brother the values my dad teach to me. You have to be a good man and do a lot of things in the community. Education is for life.

“A lot of people don’t understand it’s a process. I told him, 'You can’t go to 10th grade when you have to start with kindergarten, first grade.' At the beginning, sometimes you don’t have a good game, it happens. Now he understands the process.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit longer. Sometimes it’s a little bit shorter,” José added. “But it’s about day to day. It’s the biggest thing I try to teach him: 'Be the same guy every day. Don’t ever change your personality. Don’t ever change your routine.' Now he understands a little bit more.”

Father and son work together frequently to help refine Joseph’s craft. Learning how to pitch and to prioritize pitch location are points stressed by José, pointing to Greg Maddux as a prime example of top results, and adding velocity will come as his son gets older. Joseph sees his game making noticeable improvements, after gaining 20 pounds this past offseason.

“I’ve become more mature thanks to my mental strength coach,” Joseph said. “I’ve also become a better baseball player in general thanks to my coaches and the support my family and friends have given me. They have been there for me and made the journey a lot easier.”

Since getting a cortisone shot on Jan. 24 for soreness in his right elbow, Drew Thorpe has not had a bad day throwing-wise. He had a couple of offseason setbacks following Sept. 7 season-ending surgery to shave down a bone spur in his right elbow, but the right-hander hopes to work off the mound for the first time next week, despite breaking camp with the team seeming unlikely.

“Realistically, I would rather miss a week, a couple of weeks on the front end and be healthy and not deal with it all season, than try and push it and have to deal with it all year and missing time in the middle or end of the season,” Thorpe said.

“We are just going to take it slow, and we’ll be ready when I’m ready, and hopefully that will be good for the rest of the year.”

• The good vibe I felt with the White Sox at SoxFest Live has carried over to the start of Spring Training. 

• I’m not sad about missing the snow and return of the cold temperatures in Chicago. Hey, it was 59 in Arizona on Wednesday -- very chilly.

•  A young couple sitting next to me at an O’Hare gate on Sunday leaned over and asked if I wanted chicken nuggets. I politely passed, and the young man laughed and said he ordered 60 instead of six. I asked if he didn’t notice the elevated price, and he thought it was just airport pricing. Fair point.

“It’s dynamic. It’s impactful on both sides of the ball. And it’s fun to watch. Fun to play.” -- outfielder Braden Montgomery, the White Sox No. 5 prospect and No. 55 overall per MLB Pipeline, on his game at its highest level

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