The new names, jobs of the White Sox 2026 player development staff

The White Sox are entering the third year of Paul Janish's tenure as their director of player development, and on the whole, the changes to his staff for the 2026 are more iterative than transformational. That's also because Brian Bannister has been leading the organization's pitching efforts for the same amount of time, so the White Sox seem to have more of their guys in place with regards to developing arms.

But with the White Sox entering the second year of Ryan Fuller as the team's director of hitting, there are more significant tweaks to that department, including a new hitting coordinator and two brand new coaches at the affiliate level.

Otherwise, there's a fair amount of continuity, and you'll have to wait until the Kannapolis section for that classic old-friend jolt.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT STAFF

The top level of the player development staff remains constant, but there are changes underfoot, both internal and external. On the pitching side, the White Sox shifted Burgos to a third pitching coordinator role assigned to lower levels, Larson got a promotion and new job title, and McAllister, the former Cleveland Guardian who has a website he hasn't updated in six years, comes in for what is his first post-playing career job. Janish indicated that McAllister and Bannister have a pre-existing relationship. Perdew had been a pitching coach with the White Sox for 30 years, but he's now coaching at the Allegany College of Maryland. Alston is also new to the organization. He'd previously been the pitching coach with the Twins under Paul Molitor in 2018, and served in multiple roles with Giants over the last several years, so there may be some overlap with Bannister.

Regarding position players, the addition of Johnson had been previously tipped from Baltimore's side of things. The White Sox have also hired a new catching coordinator while abandoning the coordination of outfielders and baserunners. No team will be better at going from third to first.

Hashimoto was hired by Nike as a senior researcher, in case you're wondering where biomechanical analysts can go from here.

ASSISTANTS TO PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

We can probably fold in this section to the one above for next year, but here's a note about closure with one position. After the Sox made the surprising move to not renew Santana back in September, they have hired Poole under the simplified title of education coordinator.

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS

Speaking of surprising decisions, the White Sox moved on from Santos after the season, and Pinder will make the jump from Kannapolis to take his place. Seitzer and Listach are back with the Knights after a year with the Dash, while Rosario returns, but in a more specific role. Aldred probably hopes that his second year as Charlotte's pitching coach will year feature fewer spring training Tommy John surgeries that wipe out his Plan A rotation.

BIRMINGHAM BARONS

Bray is a new addition to the White Sox, jumping in as Birmingham's hitting coach after spending last year as an assistant hitting coach for the Mets at Double-A Binghamton, and the previous three years in San Diego's system. He replaces Delmonico, who took a leave of absence during the 2025 season and then retired.

Leyland continues his steady climb, as he's gone from Kannapolis to Winston-Salem to Birmingham over the last three years.

WINSTON-SALEM DASH

Quiroz gets reacquainted with Winston-Salem, where he'd managed in 2023 and 2024 before winning the Southern League title with Birmingham last year.

He's joined by another brand new hitting coach, as Sinkoe is joining the White Sox after coaching the last three years at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Dorris advances from Kannapolis and Coolbaugh from Arizona.

KANNAPOLIS CANNON BALLERS

Kannapolis is the landing spot for familiar MLB utility men getting their first minor league managing gigs. Last year it was Pinder, and this time it's Nix, who you may remember ripping extremely hard foul balls to the left side while hitting .214/.301/.382 for the White Sox over 118 games from 2009 to 2010. He'd spent the previous five seasons coaching and coordinating in the Angels system. Fernández also returns to the organization as a bench coach after spending 2021 through 2023 catching for three different White Sox affiliates.

ARIZONA COMPLEX LEAGUE

The lone new name is Dzurak, who joins the White Sox after spending the previous six seasons with the Twins. He's the second pitching coach the White Sox have hired away from Minnesota this winter, joining Bobby Hearn, who is the new assistant pitching coach at the major league level. Gonzalez has spent the last few years as a bullpen catcher in Chicago, and is now transitioning to player development.

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE

The White Sox's first batch of international signings for 2026 featured more pitchers than usual, and now they have new pitching coaches for their DSL affiliate for the first time since 2023, including Sanner, who comes from the coaching staff of the same program that produced Zach Bove. Everybody else is standing pat as the White Sox await the opening of their new Dominican facility, hopefully after the season.