Sergio Santos likened his new role as the manager of the Chicago White Sox Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., to that of a franchise.
“If I’m In-N-Out in Charlotte and they are In-N-Out in Chicago, you want it to taste the same and feel the same and do all that,” Santos said during a videoconference call last week. “It’s just a matter of getting on the same page with (new Sox manager Will Venable), what they want, what they are looking for in players when they call them out (to the big leagues) and prepare the guys for that time.”
Santos, 41, joins the Knights after guiding Double-A Birmingham to the Southern League championship in 2024.
“He’s got a really good pulse on the clubhouse,” Sox director of player development Paul Janish said during a videoconference call Thursday. “When I say clubhouse, I’m not just talking about players. But I’m talking about staff, I’m talking about the clubhouse staff, I’m talking about the affiliate staff.
“There’s just a lot of things that Sergio brings to the table. He’s a confident guy. He believes in himself and I think that players sense that. They know. They feel that as well. That was one of the easier decisions, bumping him to Charlotte and giving him that opportunity.”
A former major-leaguer whose career included two seasons as a reliever with the Sox, Santos remembers making the leap from Double A to Triple A as a player — first as an infielder and then as a pitcher. He believes that experience will come in handy.
“The baseball isn’t so much different, it was more like the clubhouse,” Santos said. “I was fortunate to be 20 years old in Triple A. Such an eye-opening thing where half the guys on the team had kids and were married.
“I’m going to use that. I will lean on players’ experience because they are going to be older and have some more big-league experience. It will be more collaborative with the team just to make sure we are all on the same page and moving in the right direction.”
Santos isn’t the only manager on the move within the organization for the Sox, who announced their player development staff on Thursday. Guillermo Quiroz is the new manager at Birmingham after having the duties at Class A Winston-Salem in 2023-24. Patrick Leyland, who led Class A Kannapolis to the 2024 Carolina League championship series, takes over as the manager at Winston-Salem.
Former big-leaguer Chad Pinder will lead Class A Kannapolis, his first season as a minor-league skipper, while Daniel González returns for his third straight season as manager of the Arizona Complex League White Sox.
“He’s got a passion for wanting to make people better,” Janish said of Pinder.
Mike Gellinger and Doug Sisson, members of the Sox major-league coaching staff for the last two months of the 2024 season, returned to the player development system. Gellinger will be the bench coach with the ACL White Sox, while Sisson will serve as a special assistant to the senior vice president/general manager.
Former Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin joins the Sox player development staff as a special assistant. Nevin managed the Angels in 2022-23 and played in 12 major-league seasons from 1995-2006.
“Phil brings a lot to the table there just because of the different hats that he’s worn,” Janish said. “He is going to add value in a bunch of different ways.”
Here’s the full list of Thursday’s announcement.
Player development staff
- Director of Player Development: Paul Janish
- Director of Minor League Administration: Kathy Potoski
- Senior Advisor to Pitching: Brian Bannister
- Director of Hitting: Ryan Fuller
- Assistant Director of Pitching: Rod Larson
- Assistant International Director/Player Development Latin America Operations: Louis Silverio
- Manager of Player Development/International Operations: Grant Flick
- Manager of International Player Development/Education: Erin Santana
- Special Assistant to Player Development: Phil Nevin
- Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President/General Manager: Doug Sisson
- Player development instructors/rovers
- Field/Infield Coordinator: Ryan Newman
- Pitching Coordinator: Matt Zaleski
- Assistant Pitching Coordinator: Curt Hasler
- Pitching Advisor: J.R. Perdew
- Hitting Coordinator: Alan Zinter
- Assistant Hitting Coordinator: Danny Santin
- Catching Coordinator: Julio Mosquera
- Rehab Pitching Coach: Hiram Burgos
- Biomechanist: Jason Hashimoto
- Player Development Analyst: Ethan Bain
- Player Development Analyst: Zubin Srivastava
- Medical staff
- Medical Coordinator: Kevin Pillifant
- Physical Therapy Coordinator: Evan Jurjevic
- Physical Therapist: Deanna DeNapoli
- Performance Coordinator: Sergio Rojas
- Assistant Performance Coordinator: John Perry
- Medical Administrator: Scott Takao
- Sports Psychologist: Dr. Rob Seifer
- Arizona operations
- Facility Manager: Joe Lachcik
- Minor League Clubhouse Manager: Dan Flood
- Assistant Minor League Clubhouse Manager: Bryant Biasotti
- Triple-A Charlotte
- Manager: Sergio Santos
- Pitching Coach: Scott Aldred
- Hitting Coach: Jim Rickon
- Bench Coach: Ángel Rosario
- Trainer: Carson Wooten
- Performance Coach: George Timke
- Double-A Birmingham
- Manager: Guillermo Quiroz
- Pitching Coach: John Kovalik
- Hitting Coach: Nicky Delmonico
- Bench Coach: Daniel Millwee
- Trainer: AJ Smith
- Performance Coach: Juan Maldonado
- Class A Winston-Salem
- Manager: Pat Leyland
- Pitching Coach: Blake Hickman
- Hitting Coach: Cam Seitzer
- Bench Coach: Pat Listach
- Trainer: Austin Smith
- Performance Coach: Logan Jones
- Class A Kannapolis
- Manager: Chad Pinder
- Pitching Coach: Jacob Dorris
- Hitting Coach: Charlie Romero
- Bench Coach: Darius Day
- Trainer: Tilly DeLeon
- Performance Coach: TBA
- Arizona Complex League White Sox
- Manager: Daniel González
- Pitching Coach: Rob Hardy
- Hitting Coach: Gerardo Olivares
- Bench Coach: Mike Gellinger
- Development Coach: Tyler Coolbaugh
- Trainer: Kira Felise
- Performance Coach: Donovan Clark
- Dominican Republic Academy/DSL White Sox
- Field Coordinator: Julio Bruno
- Manager, Complex Operations: Wellington Morrobel
- Manager, Administration: Carolina Santos
- Manager: Anthony Núñez
- Pitching Coach: José Brito
- Assistant Pitching Coach: Stolmy Pimentel
- Infield Coach: Guillermo Reyes
- Hitting Coach/Catching Coach: Moisés Núñez
- Development Coach: Rigaberto Silverio
- Trainer: Gustavo De La Cruz
- Assistant Trainer: Estarlin Rosario
- Performance Coach: Fran Batista
- Assistant Performance Coach: Carlos Javier
- Video Coordinator: Miguel Pérez
- Lead Educator: Pablo Frías
- Education Assistant: Rubén Benavides