The new names, jobs of the 2023 White Sox player development staff
While the White Sox’s major-league coaching staff experienced some rather significant changes with the hiring of Pedro Grifol and the shift to 2½ hitting coaches, the White Sox’s farm system’s shifts were much smaller in nature.
All of the White Sox’s managers received promotions one level up, and while there are a couple new roles and a couple of noteworthy new names in full-season coaching positions — see Winston-Salem and Kannapolis for details — most of Chris Getz’s system remains intact.
You can read the press release for the full list, but here’s the annual look at who’s in what role now, and who did that job last year.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT STAFF
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Chris Getz | Chris Getz |
| Senior Director of Minor League Adminstration | Jasmine Dunston | Kathy Potoski |
| Field coordinator | Doug Sisson | Doug Sisson |
| Pitching coordinator | Everett Teaford | Everett Teaford |
| Assistant pitching coordinators | J.R. Perdew | Matt Zaleski Donnie Veal |
| Pitching advisor | n/a | J.R. Perdew |
| Hitting coordinator | Andy Barkett | Andy Barkett |
| Assistant hitting coordinator | Ryan Johansen | Danny Santin |
| Infield coordinator/Coach development | Ryan Newman | Ryan Newman |
| Catching coordinator | Julio Mosquera | Julio Mosquera |
| Assistant outfield/baserunning coordinator | Mike Daniel | Mike Daniel |
| Rehab pitching coach | Donnie Veal | Michael Bradshaw |
| Hitting initiatives | n/a | Devin DeYoung |
| Performance coordinator | Gage Cosgrove | Gage Cosgrove |
| Biomechanical analyst | C.J. Gearhart | C.J. Gearhart |
When this list came out last year, Jasmine Dunston’s name jumped out, partially due to family ties (Shawon’s daughter) and partially due to replacing Grace Guerrero Zwit, who had been in the White Sox’s player-development ranks for 40 years. It made for a good story, but that particular arrangement seems to have lasted just one year, with Potoski getting a promotion from her senior coordinator position last year.
Among smaller shifts, the White Sox are putting a little bit more on Zaleski’s plate, as they’ve given him an assistant pitching coordinator position along with his job as Charlotte’s pitching coach. DeYoung was the hitting coach for the Arizona Complex League team, but they’ve created an entirely new role for him. Mosquero returns to the catching coordinator role, where he opened last season before he was tasked with managing Charlotte midseason.
ASSISTANTS TO PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Director, Player Development | Kenny Williams Jr. | Kenny Williams Jr. |
| Assistant Director, Baseball Operations | Graham Harboe | Graham Harboe |
| Assistant, Player Development/Video | Jack Larimer | Jack Larimer |
| Rehab pitching coach | Donnie Veal | Donnie Veal |
| Manager, international player development/education | Erin Santana | Erin Santana |
The only change here involves the last row. Last year, White Sox had an assistant of player development/Latin education (Grant Flick) and an education coordinator (Santana). If the new title is any indication, Santana now occupies a role of merged positions.
CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Wes Helms | Justin Jirschele |
| Pitching coach | Matt Zaleski | Matt Zaleski |
| Hitting coach | Chris Johnson | Cameron Seitzer |
Jirschele resumes his upward trajectory, taking over for Wes Helms, who probably shouldn’t have started the season with the Knights before he was placed on indefinite leave in May. Johnson’s promotion to White Sox assistant hitting coach opened a spot for Cameron Seitzer. It feels worth pointing out now that he’s the son of Atlanta Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who worked with new White Sox hitting coach José Castro for the last eight seasons.
BIRMINGHAM BARONS
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Justin Jirschele | Lorenzo Bundy |
| Pitching coach | Richard Dotson | Danny Farquhar |
| Hitting coach | Charlie Romero | Nicky Delmonico |
Winston-Salem’s entire coaching staff received a promotion to Birmingham, perhaps to maintain continuity for guys like Colson Montgomery and Bryan Ramos? It’s hard to judge the coaches, especially since the Dash were starved of all compelling prospects over the final month of the season due to Project Birmingham, but the Sox don’t seem to hold that against them. Richard Dotson isn’t listed anywhere in the organization for the first time in a long time.
WINSTON-SALEM DASH
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Lorenzo Bundy | Guillermo Quiroz |
| Pitching coach | Danny Farquhar | John Ely |
| Hitting coach | Nicky Delmonico | Jason Krizan |
Qurizo and Ely received direct promotions from Kannapolis.
Krizan is new to the organization, and if nothing else, he has some things to teach prospects about persistence. He made his MLB debut last season at the age of 33 with the San Francisco Giants, more than 10 years and 1,100 minor-league games after the Detroit Tigers selected him in the eighth round of the 2011 draft. He went 1-for-8 with two walks and three strikeouts over three games, then returned to Triple-A for the rest of the season. He hit .316/.367/.492 in Sacramento, so he might want to stay ready if the White Sox need a left-handed corner outfielder.
KANNAPOLIS CANNON BALLERS
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Guillermo Quiroz | Patrick Leyland |
| Pitching coach | John Ely | Blake Hickman |
| Hitting coach | Cam Seitzer | Charlie Romero |
Leyland follows all the managers above him with a promotion while Romero, who received rave reviews for his work with José Rodríguez, Lenyn Sosa and Oscar Colás in Birmingham, will report two levels lower this season.
Hickman, an Amateur City Elite product out of Simeon High School who was selected by the White Sox out of the University of Iowa in the seventh round in the 2015 draft, never quite found a groove in his professional career after Tommy John surgery delayed it, is getting his first crack at coaching in A-ball.
ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Patrick Leyland | Danny González |
| Pitching coach | Drew Hasler | Drew Hasler |
| Hitting coach | Devin DeYoung | Gerardo Olivares |
| Bench coach/hitting coach | Mike Gellinger | Mike Gellinger |
| Fundamentals coach | n/a | Ángel Rosario |
González makes his managerial debut this summer after serving as a development coach within the organization last year, while Olivares moves up from the DSL to replace DeYoung. The position of “fundamentals coach” is new.
DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
| Role | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Academy supervisor | Louis Silverio | Louis Silverio |
| Field coordinator | Julio Bruno | Julio Bruno |
| Assistant field coordinator | Guillermo Reyes | n/a |
| Complex operations coordinator | Manuel Santana | Wellington Morrobel |
| Manager | Ángel Rosario | Anthony Nuñez |
| Pitching coach | Leo Hernández | José Brito |
| Hitting coach | Gerardo Olivares | Julio Bruno |
| Assistant hitting coach/catching coach | n/a | Moisés Nuñez |
| Assistant pitching coach | José Brito | n/a |
There are not two Julio Brunos (Brunoes?), it’s the same Julio Bruno wearing two hats.
Does anyone know what the Sox minor league combined win loss record was last year? With all these great instructors I’m sure it must have been very impressive.
293-371. Only DSL Sox had a winning record (32-26). We obviously needed an encore to that, jobs and promotions for everyone!
Player development looked pretty good last year in terms of prospects making strides. Several key players improving their stock and not too many newly drifting towards non-prospect territory. We’ll see.
Can you drift towards non-prospect territory when you are already in the middle of it?
Asking for Kelly, Thompson, Dalquist, Cespedes…
Not a single affliliate was within 15 games of .500, and I don’t mean over.
It’s good to see that Nicky Delmonico has a job in baseball and now a promotion. He hit rock bottom and now has a career, so good for him. Is Donnie Veal related to Coot Veal, 1950s pitcher? And is KW Jr — KW’s son works for the White Sox? How come all the player development coaching roles are filled while the actual roster of players still has holes in it? I don’t expect any answers to these questions.
Donnie Veal is not related to Coot, but Donnie pitched for the Sox around exactly a decade ago. Sort of a situational lefty, likable guy originally signed to a MILB deal. Threw around 50 innings over 3 seasons with mixed results. I think he’s been on the staff for a few years now
There was a brief period of time where Veal was an absolute lefty killer out of the pen, but it was pretty fleeting.
Yeah IIRC his performance was pretty in line w the team’s. He was good in 2012 and pretty awful in 2013
And the White Sox finally addressed the need for an experienced major league second baseman.
MLBTR reports that they signed Nate Mondou who has a 25% walk rate in the majors. In the minors he hit .282/.371/.432 in 2021 with a .283/.374/.431 line last year. He posted better than average strikeout and walk numbers in both seasons.
I guess I should mention that his MLB line is 0-3 with 1 walk.
mon dieu! a minor league signing… cause for shock and alarm!
At some level and after quite a bit of consternation, you have to be at least encouraged by any minor league signings. Still, you get the distinct feeling that they are quite satisfied with the talent they have already assembled. I’m just not sure where the source of that satisfaction is coming from.
The 2020-23 White Sox: We’re extremely satisfied with ourselves
I like the NRI guys that Hahn signs. I just with they were competing for call-up spots due to injuries, not competitions for 4th OF behind a rookie RF, and starting 2B type roles.
Thanks for putting this together.
The same crew that has given us players who are unsound fundamentally are almost all retained and many get promotions to boot.
Here’s a list of the top 15 players drafted by the White Sox using WAR off of Baseball Reference since Kenny Williams became General Manager over 20 years ago.
Chris Sale 45.5
Marcus Semien 32.
Gio Gonzalez 28.3
Tim Anderson 18.3
Chris Young 16.5
Carlos Rodon 15.4
Chris Bassitt 13.3
Brandon McCarthy 10.
Hector Santiago 8.8
Daniel Hudson 7.
Ryan Sweeney 6.9
Addison Reed 6.
Nate Jones 5.7
Gordon Beckham 5.5
Adam Engel 4.2
I may be wrong but it doesn’t look very good. Over 20 years of draft classes and you can only develop 8 players with a WAR of at least 10? If I missed somebody please add him to the list.
And my guess is that the Sox only benefitted from about half that WAR.
Mostly Sale, TA, and Rodon. I also have an issue with Beckham being anything other than a failed prospect, even if we got some plus WAR out of him.
I think it shows how horrible their player development is. If you’re going to act like a small market organization, then you need to have a strong minor league operation.
Just wait until an even higher-picked second baseman shows up on this list.
Is it normal for an org to have such a high percentage of its coaching and development staffed by its own failed prospects?
Seems to feed the “insular” org. narrative.
If you were from outside of this organization, would you want to come to it?
So the only one on the player development side who lost a job was Ryan Johansen. The only coaches gone were Wes Helms (replaced mid-season) and Richard Dotson (retired?). Everyone else was promoted, shuffled, stayed in place.
I’m not out for people’s heads but at some point results need to matter.
The continuity and insularity that mark the White Sox organization actually could be a strength with regard to player development. But for years the various parts of the organization seemed so out of step. My impression is that the FO and scouting department tried to skirt development by focusing on the “Major League-ready” profile to the detriment of homegrown development wins.
Encouragingly, Mike Shirley has seemed to break from the trends of his predecessors and is injecting more developable talent into the system. Aside from Crochet–whom Shirley and the FO seemed to have different visions for–the team seems to have bought into a new approach to “projectability”, especially for pitchers. The Everett Teaford era has given us enough cases of pitchers outperform their initial billing (Cease, Martin, Lambert, Stiever pre-injuries) to feel confident that this org has the competence to mold some legit rotation arms out of the crop of arms in the lower ranks.
This will probably never be a bona fide scouting & development org–the overabundance of Midwestern Shirley draftees and Cuban Paddy signings suggests the resources invested in scouting are limited compared with teams like the Rays and Dodgers. But the processes feel less like those of a team just trying to wing it.
The continuity and insularity that mark the White Sox organization actually could be a strength with regard to player development. But for years the various parts of the organization seemed so out of step. My impression is that the FO and scouting department tried to skirt development by focusing on the “Major Leage-ready” profile to the detriment of homegrown development wins.
Encouragingly, Mike Shirley has seemed to break from the trends of his predecessors and is injecting more developable talent into the system. Aside from Crochet–whom Shirley and the FO seemed to have different visions for–the team seems to have bought into a new approach to “projectability”, especially for pitchers. The Everett Teaford era has given us enough cases of pitchers outperform their initial billing (Cease, Martin, Lambert, Stiever pre-injuries) to feel confident that this org has the competence to mold some legit rotation arms out of the crop of arms in the lower ranks.
This will probably never be a bona fide scouting & development org–the overabundance of Midwestern Shirley draftees and Cuban Paddy signings suggests the resources invested in scouting are limited compared with teams like the Rays and Dodgers. But the processes feel less like those of a team just trying to wing it.