‘They’re all unique. And they’re all awesome’: Sergio Santos on giving White Sox prospects big news

They've arrived in a steady drumbeat throughout the season, one highly anticipated White Sox prospect callup after another. First, Chase Meidroth. Then Edgar Quero. Then Tim Elko, later Kyle Teel. Most recently, Colson Montgomery.

No matter the name, it's roughly the same: The White Sox make the call to Triple-A Charlotte, Sergio Santos delivers the big news, and then fans get to see the Knights manager delivering the big news in a viral video on their social media app of choice.

If you've seen even two of the videos, then you know the script: The player comes into the manager's office, the manager has him take a seat, after which he launches into a speech detailing the player's growth in an intentionally meandering fashion, capped by the news that he's going to Chicago. Handshakes, hugs, and occasionally tears follow. Somebody usually says, "Let's go."

White Sox fans have seen the scene play out enough times to have memorized the layout of Santos' office (and maybe Guillermo Quiroz's as well, since Grant Taylor was promoted from Birmingham). That raises the question: Do the players see it coming?

"I didn't expect it at all," Montgomery said. "I was completely thrown off guard."

"When he told me to sit down, I had a feeling." Teel said. "But anytime I got called into Sergio's office, no matter what, I would be a little excited because I know there's potential to get called up."

Santos has been able to keep the mystery alive with an open-door policy, so it doesn't automatically raise flags when the manager wants to chat.

"I try not to make it out of the ordinary," Santos said before Charlotte's game in Nashville on Wednesday. "I try to connect with my players as often as I can. At any given time, you'll see a couple players in my office throughout the day to check in with them and see how they're doing."

When it's time for the out-of-ordinary conversation, Santos says there are two processes for the promotable promotion, depending on the lead time. When the front office can properly lay track for the transaction, White Sox employees make the trip and set up GoPros. Those are the videos that have greater production value, whether it's multiple camera angles or post-announcement phone calls to family.

But what about when the move happens suddenly?

"We just set up an iPad in the room and get it done that way," Santos said.

That's how Montgomery's went down.

"I know with Colson, it was so close to game time, there was going to be a move made." Santos said. "You don't want it to affect the big league team and find out very early in the day that Colson's pulled out of the lineup. Everything is done with the player's best interest at heart, but sometimes the timing does kind of stink when it's that close to game time."

And Montgomery was annoyed. At least until he wasn't.

"This was like 25-30 minutes before the game. I just got done hitting in the cage. Had my bat and coffee in hand, just trying to get amped up and ready for the game," Montgomery explained. "Rosie, Angel Rosario, one of our coaches, he came up to me and was like, 'Yo, you done hitting?' and I was like, 'Yeah.' And he was, 'All right, go into Sergio's office.' I was like, all right, I normally never talk to him before games. I usually just see him in the dugout. He was like, 'Yo, what are you doing,' and I was like, 'I'm trying to get ready for the game' and kind of mad at him.

"Then he was like, 'Why don't you have a seat.' And when he did that and then [field coordinator] Ryan Newman was behind me and he closed the door, then I kind of figured it was something important."

Montgomery surmises that the process has "probably gotten easy" for Santos due to all the reps, but Santos maintains that it hasn't become a rote task, as each promotion merits individual consideration.

"As soon as I find out which player is getting called up, I reflect on my relationship with them and the best way to give him that news," he said.

"They're all unique. And they're all awesome in their own right. The important part is that they're making their big league debut."

It's something of a full-circle moment for Santos, who could be a considered a trail-blazer in the field during his playing days. His call-up to the big leagues at the end of spring training in 2010 was also captured on camera -- not for Instagram engagement, but as part of "The Club," a six-part MLB Network miniseries that followed the 2010 White Sox throughout the season.

Santos, then 26 years old, had converted to relief pitching in 2009 at the White Sox's request after his ascent as a shortstop stalled out in Triple-A. The Sox spent his last option year giving him a crash course in minor league pitching, speeding him through the four full-season levels despite poor results.

When spring training rolled around in 2010, an out-of-options Santos forced the team's hand by striking out 16 over 10⅓ innings. His control was still a work in progress, but the stuff played too well to risk losing him to waivers. On the last day of camp, Ozzie Guillén called Santos into his office, where he, Kenny Williams and Don Cooper were on hand to deliver the good news in front of the cameras, later to be narrated by Michael Clarke Duncan's sonorous tones.

("The Club" footage from 2010 courtesy of MLB Network)

"It was super-dramatic, right?" Santos recalls. "I mean, I'd only been pitching for a year. I only had 30 innings in my life, and so it did kind of come out of nowhere. I know I had a good spring and I was close ... I was out of options, something had to happen, so I was just blessed that it worked out and I made the big league team."

Fifteen years later, Santos gets to provide that moment, seemingly every other week.

"That's the great part about recording it, right?" Santos said. "You're giving a piece of news they've been working for their whole life, and now get they get to replay it anytime they want."

Teel said he's done just that.

"I've rewatched it. I feel like I got tagged in it a few times, so I got to see my own reaction from a weird third-person point of view." Teel said.

"I thought it was a great video. I think it's great to be able to look at it. In a few years it'll be great to look at it, and it will be a keepsake."

(James Fegan contributed to this article.)