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.

"Zach is just a super-impressive guy. He dealt with some injuries toward the end of his career which it was really evident that that side of the game and the psychological side of the game are something that is important to him," Janish said in a Zoom call with reporters this afternoon. "We're going to deploy him in a variety of roles on the pitching side. But just really exposing him to our group and kind of seeing where that goes is something we're excited about."

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 here, too.

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.

When asked what stood out about Poole, Janish said, "Her aspiration to take on a new challenge, number one. Her background in education and some of the things that she’s dealt with from an organizational standpoint, leading people standpoint really stuck out. Her prior references with Texas were really, really good. Just being able to influence that in a positive way."

"We talk about the new Dominican Academy that’s going to be built and the emphasis that we put on the international side and just having a heart for those Latin players and what some of the adversity they have to deal with coming to the United States for the first time and adjust to coming from the DR to Arizona, and from Arizona to Kannapolis. It’s something that’s super important to the organization right now and plays a lot larger role than what a lot of people give credit with regards to them being able to be comfortable and function on a daily basis." 

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.

"It's twofold for me," Pinder said, when asked in an afternoon Zoom session about what appeals to him about the opportunity. "Selfishly, I live in Charlotte. I have a 5- and a 2-year-old, [a] wife, [I’m] married. So to be able to have this experience with them while they're so young. I mean, you guys know. You guys follow baseball. You guys have done this for a long time. You know how this game is. You know how the travel is. You know the sacrifice on both sides, from the player side, from the media side. To be able to do this where I live and share that with my family, I may never get that opportunity again.

"From the baseball side, I firmly believe in development, it doesn't stop. It doesn't. It does not stop. It doesn't stop when you get into the big leagues. Marcus Semien, you guys had him. You guys probably followed him. What that guy did and how good he got while playing in the big leagues, is a testament to development does not stop past Triple-A. So it's proof. We're here in Charlotte, we can continue to develop, and we can continue to get better and prepare ourselves for the next level."

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.

"Excited about Pat being in Birmingham. I know he's excited about it," Janish said. "There's an intensity about him that I think is contagious to the players as well, which we really, really promote."

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.

"Talking about Adam Sinkoe, it's a lot of alignment within our hitting department," Janish said. "We feel there's some creative mindset there that's going to help from a training standpoint. His ability to communicate and relate to younger players, I think is going to help him."

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.

"A little bit of a unique situation with Jayson," Janish said. "He and I have known each other for a little while. Actually played with Lance, his brother, Getz has a good relationship with him. Josh Barfield has a good relationship with him. The type of player that he was I can sympathize with, he earned everything he got as a player. There’s an edge to Jayson that I think is going to benefit our players.

"And, technically speaking, it’ll be his first time managing but I think it’s a really good fit with what’s going to be a young group down there in Kannapolis with some of the high school draft picks that we had last year and even some of our young Latin players that are coming up and going to be there. It’s exciting to have him in the organization because you know what he represents, you know who he is and the trust factor is very high."

Fernández also returns to the organization as a bench coach after spending 2021 through 2023 catching for three different White Sox affiliates.

"Xavier's experience as a player and the type of player he was within this organization and just as a player in general, good luck getting anybody to say anything bad about that guy," Janish said. "It's contagious energy. He wants to work."

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.

"He's got a heart for development, man," Janish said of Gonzalez. "Talking to him and some of the things that are important to him, it was very clear that he would fit in really well with our group and we're really excited to have him."

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.

"It's definitely something that we wanted to highlight and be intentional with," Janish said about the change in pitching coaches. "Talking about the new academy and the emphasis on the international side, it was something we thought we could really influence and we're excited about those guys being down there. We all know how significant influencing those guys at such a young age can be, and those two guys, JC Sanner and Carlos Chavez are going to help with that in the DR."