Derek Shomon grew up rooting for the Chicago White Sox.
“I still recall wearing all my White Sox gear that day, bringing a broom and dustpan to school, walking around the halls with it for that World Series,” said Shomon, a 2008 Glenbrook South graduate, of the 2005 four-game sweep of the Houston Astros.
The Glenview native is now in a position to aid the Sox after being named their hitting coach Friday.
“It’s super special, man,” Shomon said during a videoconference call. “This has always been home. Unbelievable opportunity. Super grateful for it.”
Additionally, the Sox announced that Joel McKeithan would return for his second season as the assistant hitting coach. Sherman Johnson Jr. is the organization’s new minor-league hitting coordinator.
Shomon, 35, joins the Sox after serving as the assistant hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2025.
“He’s very high-energy, very intelligent,” general manager Chris Getz said during Friday’s videoconference call. “He brings real grit to the position. His track record is strong, and his journey to this position is an impressive one.”
The Marlins finished sixth in the National League with a .250 batting average. They were fourth in the NL with a .275 average with runners in scoring position.
“Certainly Derek has the ability to have an understanding of what it is we want to do to help people get better and then has the ability to build relationships to make those things happen and to leverage those relationships to help our players be the best version of themselves,” manager Will Venable said during the conference call. “(Shomon) was one of those guys that I heard from different networks. And you know that guys are special when that happens.”
Shomon is very familiar with the American League Central. He spent four seasons (2021-24) with the Minnesota Twins organization, working as the major-league assistant hitting coach in 2023-24. He was the hitting coach at Double-A Wichita in 2022 and High-A Fort Myers in 2021.
During the two years on their major-league staff, the Twins ranked third in the AL with 416 home runs, fourth with a .419 slugging percentage and fifth with 1,520 runs scored — an average of 4.7 per game.
He sees some parallels between the Sox and Marlins “as the roster composition, the age, super young group of guys.” That group includes shortstop Colson Montgomery, catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero and infielder Chase Meidroth.
“(The Sox) made really really big strides as an organization from the major-league level all the way down to the (Dominican Republic), and that’s a massive kudos to (director of hitting) Ryan Fuller, Joel McKeithan, the hitting coaches in (player development) who were here last year and are still here,” Shomon said.
That was part of what made the position attractive.
“Additionally, the major-league team (in) the second half being top 10 in runs scored per game, OPS were in the top half, their chase percentage overall was its best in the last three or four seasons, we saw an increase in walks,” Shomon said. “Those were all really good signals. You are heading in the right direction.
“This is an offense that has the opportunity to be multifaceted and have multiple solutions. The work they had already set in place last year is very similar to what we were doing in Miami and that’s exciting. That’s exciting because I’ve seen a system like this work.”
Shomon takes over the role held by Marcus Thames the last two seasons.
Johnson, 35, arrives after spending 2025 as the assistant hitting coach/upper-level hitting coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles. It was his third season with the organization, working as the minor-league upper-level hitting coordinator in 2024 and as hitting coach at Double-A Bowie in 2023.
“It’s worth noting that any of these hires, we were really looking for someone that would align with our entire hitting group, starting with Ryan Fuller, and we were able to accomplish that with Derek and Sherman,” Getz said. “And as Will and others in the front office worked through the interview process, it was very clear that Derek and Sherman were going to be significant adds to the organization.”
Shomon is the second announced addition to the big-league coaching staff this week. The Sox named Zach Bove their pitching coach Tuesday.
Shomon said he went to a “handful” of Sox games growing up. He is thrilled with the next stop in his baseball journey.
“When I went out to the stadium about a week and a half ago, I had a moment in the dugout and you are kind of like ‘This is happening,’” Shomon said. “I’m back home.
“Then you don’t dwell on it too long. It’s immediately followed up with, ‘We have to get to work and what’s the next steps.’”