The White Sox announced their 2025 coaching staff on Monday at the Winter Meetings.
Returning coaches are marked by asterisks, and there are several of those. Here it is:
- Manager: Will Venable
- Bench coach: Walker McKinven
- Pitching Coach: Ethan Katz*
- Hitting coach: Marcus Thames*
- Offensive coordinator: Grady Sizemore*
- First base/outfield coach: Jason Bourgeois*
- Third base/infield coach: Justin Jirschele*
- Assistant pitching coach: Matt Wise*
- Assistant hitting coach: Joel McKeithan
- Catching coach: Drew Butera*
We've got 10 names on this list, and seven of them are back from last year's 121-loss campaign. Isn't it interesting that Venable, the new manager, didn't bring anyone with him from the Texas Rangers, where he previously served as bench coach?
Katz, of course, will be working for his third managerial regime. Thames, Sizemore, Bourgeois, Wise and Butera were all hired by general manager Chris Getz before the 2024 season. Jirschele is an organizational guy who worked his way up the ranks as a minor league manager. He was promoted to third base coach in the middle of the season when Getz fired former manager Pedro Grifol and all of his henchmen.
Basically, this staff was assembled by the front office and not the manager. Is that a problem? Not necessarily, but it's something to keep an eye on.
The other thing that stands out: The Sox have an "offensive coordinator," in addition to a hitting coach and an assistant hitting coach.
The Sox scored a league-worst 507 runs in 2024. The next lowest output in the American League came from the Tampa Bay Rays, who scored nearly 100 runs more (604). So, theoretically, the Sox could use all the offensive coaching they can get.
However, there does come a point of *too much* information. Hopefully, this doesn't become a situation where the Sox have too many cooks in the kitchen. Again, it may be nothing. It's just something to keep an eye on.
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