The White Sox have yet to announce their full uniformed coaching staff for the 2026 season, but at least they've gotten to first base.
Gigantes del Cibao of LIDOM (Dominican Winter League) announced on Monday that their manager, José Leger has been named the new White Sox first base coach. Dominican newspaper Diario Libre also reported the news, and now Sox Machine can confirm it as well.
Leger, 43, is a native of Santo Domingo, who in addition to his extensive LIDOM dugout experience, has spent over a decade as a minor league manager in the Mets and Cardinals systems before shifting to an assistant field and baserunning coordinator role for St. Louis this past season. He had also spent three seasons as the Cardinals' Latin American Field & Academy Development Coordinator before a four-year run managing Double-A Springfield, and his wealth of experience in coaching and developing players of Latin American origin is a clear dynamic he adds to the current composition of Will Venable's staff.
Leger played both JUCO and Division II college baseball before eventually getting signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent. He only recorded stats in two minor league seasons, but hung around as an org soldier for parts of five years before getting his start in coaching in the same organization as a hitting coach in the Dominican Summer League, a transition the Twins might have had in mind when they first signed him anyway.
As first base coach, Leger will be replacing Jason Bourgeois, who had oversight over White Sox baserunning and outfield defense during his two seasons on the job. Personnel is paramount for determining performance, but the White Sox were laggards in both categories by Statcast and FanGraphs' respective fielding and baserunning metrics, and entered the winter seeking ways to find improvement. The team announced they would not be renewing Bourgeois' contract shortly after the season ended, and he's already been hired to work in the same capacity for the Baltimore Orioles staff under their new manager, former Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz.
While his recent coaching assignments suggest Leger could seamlessly pick up the same responsibilities Bourgeois held down, most of his press up until now had been for his managing. Well, to be specific, having to answer questions about Tim Tebow while managing the Mets' Low-A affiliate in 2017 represents the majority of Leger's press clippings up to this point. But he was named the Texas League Manager of the Year in 2024 for leading Double-A Springfield to a franchise record win total, and named the Best Manager Prospect in the game by Baseball America in 2022.
Minor league managerial success isn't the same sort of direct stepping stone to major league managing jobs that it used to be. But Leger has made the rounds and picked up the plaudits to where landing a job on a big league coaching staff represents the next rung up the ladder for him, and it comes for a rebuilding White Sox team that needs gains in his field of expertise to move up a rung or two in its own slow climb.
