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10 potential candidates to become the next White Sox hitting coach

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The post 10 potential candidates to become the next White Sox hitting coach appeared first on Sox On 35th.

We started with pitching coach candidates last week. This week, we’re doing hitting coach candidates.

With the rest of the league largely focused on the postseason, the White Sox are likely working behind the scenes to identify some of their top candidates to fill their pitching, hitting, and first base coach positions. Much like with the pitching side of the ledger, however, the team is fortunate to have someone in-house in Ryan Fuller who can help ensure some consistency in organizational messaging despite the coaching turnover.

As before with my article on pitching coach candidates, some of these hitting coach candidates have some overlap with either Ryan Fuller or Will Venable. In cases where they don’t, they are typically assistant hitting coaches in successful organizations or have previously worked with successful organizations.

One final note: again, much like on the pitching side, being qualified to be the team’s next hitting coach isn’t enough. There will have to be a shared hitting philosophy that can keep an organizational connection and shared message from top to bottom. That’s not exactly something that can be accounted for in this space, but it is still worth acknowledging that whoever becomes the next hitting coach will have that philosophical alignment.

With that, let’s begin.

Joel McKeithan – Assistant Hitting Coach, Chicago White Sox

We’ll start with internal options – or, in this case, option. The team fired hitting coach Marcus Thames, but kept assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan, who they brought over from Cincinnati before the 2025 season. A Fuller/Venable/Getz hire that’s already in-house could make sense as a promotion.

McKeithan, 34, had previously spent three seasons on the Reds’ major league coaching staff – one season as their assistant hitting coach, and two seasons as their primary hitting coach. During his time there, several young Reds’ hitters credited McKeithan for their outbreak seasons and overall strong communication and interpersonal skills.

“The main thing is his connection to the players. The players gravitated to him. For a young coach, probably the most important thing is just having feel. He has great feel.”

– David Bell, former Reds manager (via Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith)

Before joining Cincinnati, McKeithan was the hitting coach for Class-A Williamsport in the Philadelphia Phillies organization from 2019-2020, director of hitting at X2 Baseball in Charlotte, N.C., in 2020, and minor-league hitting coordinator in the Detroit Tigers system in 2021. He played three collegiate seasons at Vanderbilt and one at North Carolina State after a season following Tommy John Surgery. He does have an interesting background: after struggling as a hitter, McKeithan went to Driveline to try and create a pitching career. While that didn’t work, that experience is what got him into coaching.

McKeithan represents an opportunity for Ryan Fuller to continue some of the progress at the major league level from last season with someone who was already with some of the young guys. Should the team feel confident in McKeithan’s ability to lead the team at the big league level, this move could make a lot of sense.

Donnie Ecker – Former Offensive Coordinator, Texas Rangers

Ecker was once a popular name as a potential manager a few seasons ago. However, he finds himself searching for his next opportunity.

The 39-year-old coached high school and college baseball until 2015, when the Cardinals hired Ecker to work in their player development department. He spent three seasons as a hitting coach at the A-ball level before moving to the Angels for a season to serve as their Triple-A hitting coach. Following the 2018 season, Ecker became the Reds’ assistant hitting coach and eventual director of hitting.

After a season with the Giants in 2020 in similar roles, Ecker became the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Rangers from 2022-2024, though he was removed as the bench coach for the 2025 season to focus solely on the offense. That didn’t seem to work, as the Rangers struggled mightily offensively in 2025, and Ecker was dismissed mid-season.

Ecker has a strong reputation across the league. In late 2023, Eno Sarris highlighted him as a “potential future star” in baseball after strong reviews from those who had worked with Ecker before:

  • “Fearless, elite ability to convince people to look at problems in unique ways and try new strategies to solve for them.”
  • “Everywhere he goes, magic happens. Most effective communicator and purveyor of knowledge in pro ball.”

Magic certainly did happen in 2023 when he was with the Rangers, so perhaps the White Sox could hope magic strikes again on the South Side? His relationship with Will Venable could certainly help, as should his reputation around the league. He might have some difficult questions to answer about what happened to that once-powerful Rangers’ offense, but he seems to be no stranger to trying new ideas.

Cody Atkinson – Director of Hitting, Texas Rangers

We’re staying in Texas and continuing the Venable connection with Cody Atkinson. The 36-year-old has spent five seasons in the Rangers’ organization overseeing the minor league hitting development program, holding titles of hitting coordinator and director of hitting. He had previously spent seven seasons coaching in the college ranks, and before his time with the Rangers, he spent a season as Cincinnati’s run production and hitting assessment coach. He worked with major leaguers and minor leaguers in that role.

Atkinson’s undergraduate degree is in kinesiology, the study of the mechanics of body movements. It was a key area for the Rangers when they hired Atkinson, as they sought to catch up to other clubs in the exploration of biomechanics. However, Atkinson would describe himself as a blend of old-school and new-school tendencies – though nothing else seems to matter to him as much as player empowerment.

“We try to promote the idea of the thing that you have to be the best at is interacting with your players, interacting with your staff, interacting with people. That’s the No. 1, most important thing. All that other stuff is just icing on the cake. Let’s make sure that our players love us, our players trust us and know that we care about them and they know that we’re here for them first.”

– Cody Atkinson (via Baseball America)

Much like with Ecker, there are plenty of players to point to in favor of Atkinson, including that 2023 World Series Championship. However, the White Sox would have to feel ready that Atkinson would be ready for his first dugout coaching opportunity. Having the support of both Fuller and McKeithan would likely go a long way. Plus, it might be worth a bit of a risk to get a clearly bright mind in the game of baseball who’s willing to go and prove himself on the White Sox’ side.

“I think that anyone—even if you did play pro ball and you weren’t a major leaguer—you step into any role, you have to prove yourself, and I think that’s something that I’ve been able to do.”

– Cody Atkinson (via Baseball America)

Dillon Lawson – Assistant Hitting Coach, Boston Red Sox

Lawson, 40, has spent plenty of time throughout his career in the AL East. He got his first big league coaching opportunity with the Yankees as their minor league hitting coordinator in 2018. Before the 2022 season, he was promoted all the way to their major league hitting coach. He spent just a year and a half in that role, being fired on July 9, 2023, in a bit of a scapegoat-type move following the Yankees ranking second in MLB in wRC+ a season prior. The Red Sox would hire him before the 2024 season to serve as their hitting coordinator, primarily focused on their upper-level minor leaguers. This season, he was named their assistant hitting coach.

His focus on the upper minor leagues meant Lawson has been able to spend time with players such as Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Ceddanne Rafaela – as well as current White Sox hitters Braden Montgomery, Kyle Teel, and Chase Meidroth for a brief time. Perhaps Teel and Meidroth in particular might have some thoughts about what Lawson preaches?

“My background is more in swing decisions. I didn’t play professional baseball, and my niche became pitch recognition and plate discipline. I definitely think the swing is overemphasized, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t still be a massive focus.”

– Dillon Lawson (via FanGraphs)

While he didn’t play professional baseball, Lawson attended Transylvania University, where he played college baseball as a catcher and first baseman. Outside of his professional coaching experience, Lawson has also spent time coaching at Lindenwood University, IMG Academy, Morehead State University, and Southeast Missouri State University.

Lawson’s background, like many individuals on this list, is a non-traditional one, but he does have experience as a hitting coach at the major league level. Should the White Sox and Ryan Fuller be comfortable with his swing decision-driven approach, or at least his ability to translate it to Fuller’s work, his experience with some of the top teams in the AL East could be beneficial to the organization. Based on the White Sox’ improved plate discipline this season, however, Lawson might fit right into the team’s current philosophies as is.

Matt Borgschulte – Hitting Coach, Minnesota Twins

With the Twins deciding to dismiss Rocco Baldelli at the end of the season, a name with previous connections to Fuller in Baltimore might become available. Could it be worth getting the band back together?

Borgschulte, 34, and Fuller were once co-hitting coaches together in Baltimore. He was a minor league hitting coach with the Twins from 2018 to 2021 before joining the Orioles alongside Fuller.

For a time, the Orioles’ offense improved each season after Borgschulte and Fuller took over as the organization emerged from its rebuild. Baltimore’s OPS rank out of 30 MLB teams improved from 20th in 2022 to 13th in 2023 to fourth in 2024, scoring the fourth-most runs in MLB in 2024. But Baltimore’s bats slumped in the second half of that 2024 season, leading the team to make some changes that saw Fuller head to Chicago and Borgschulte to their AL Central rival.

“It’s an easy transition for a guy like him. He has no ego. When you have no ego, situations like that don’t bother you, and that’s what makes him truly a great person. You let your ego get in the way, you’re doomed in life. He does a great job of handling everybody, getting to know everybody. He fits right in.”

– Carlos Correa on Matt Borgschulte (via The Athletic)

There are a lot of variables here. The first and most obvious: the Twins still haven’t decided on their next manager, and that will likely be the person deciding whether or not to keep Borgschulte on staff. The second variable: is the connection to Ryan Fuller a good thing here? Co-hitting coaches is a tough situation to be in, and it’s unclear if their philosophies ever clashed at times to the point where it would be detrimental to the organization to hire Borgschulte.

However, should the Twins decide to go in a different direction and Fuller and Borgschulte have a good relationship that aligns philosophically, this could be a situation where the two come back together in Chicago in a bit of a different way.

Dustin Lind – Assistant Hitting Coach, Philadelphia Phillies

Lind, 36, has spent the last two seasons as the Phillies’ assistant hitting coach with Kevin Long, a former popular name among Sox fans to become the team’s manager before Pedro Grifol’s hiring. He was previously with the San Francisco Giants in the same role from 2020-2023 and with the Seattle Mariners as their director of hitting development and strategies. He joined Seattle’s organization in 2018 as a minor league quality assurance coach, while also serving as hitting coach for the AZL Mariners.

Based on the above, if Lind’s job was to help cut down on the Phillies’ chase rates, it’s unclear how much of an impact he had. The Phillies saw their chase rates decrease just one percentage point from 2023 to 2024 and stay relatively similar to 2024 levels in 2025. At the very least, at least things didn’t head in the opposite direction – though it was hard to get worse, as the Phillies consistently ranked at the bottom of the league in this metric.

What Lind wants to enact, however, is something that sounds aligned with the White Sox:

“We want to create really clear visuals for our players to understand where a pitch needs to start, in order for it to end where we need to hit it. Because guys are throwing with such incredible movement and velocity nowadays, we really need to take a lot of the decision-making process and make it as automatic as we can. So that’s why we’re really trying to mix it up and maybe change speeds on them, and make training a little more difficult, in some cases.”

– Dustin Lind (via The Philadelphia Inquirer)

At the end of the day, giving Lind too much credit or blame for something that ultimately falls on Kevin Long’s shoulders is a slippery slope. However, it’s worth considering when evaluating his overall fit for the role. To his credit, he’s been a forward-thinking individual throughout his coaching career, and starting in Seattle – an organization well-known for its player development program – is a point in his favor.

As always, though, his philosophical alignment with Fuller will be what ultimately decides how strongly he is considered for this role.

Bobby Magallanes – Assistant Hitting Coach, Seattle Mariners

This list deserves a veteran hitting coach who’s seen a lot of success throughout his career. Bobby Magallanes certainly fits that description.

Magallanes, 56, is finishing up his first season as the assistant hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners and is certainly a baseball lifer. A former 50th-round draft pick and Independent/Mexican League player, Magallanes began his coaching career with the Angels in 2002. He spent 17 seasons as a minor league hitting coach and manager – including two seasons with the White Sox as the Birmingham Barons manager in 2011 and 2012 – before being promoted to assistant hitting coach with the Braves in 2021. He spent four seasons in that role before heading to the Mariners this season.

Magallanes has worked with Kevin Seitzer in both Atlanta and Seattle, with Seitzer serving a more old-school style focused less on swing mechanics and Magallanes bringing a sports psychology-influenced approach. Together, the two had the gift of overseeing one of the league’s brightest young offenses over the early 2020s with Ronald Acuña Jr., Dansby Swanson, Michael Harris III, and Austin Riley. As previously mentioned, the Mariners’ player development system is also viewed highly throughout baseball, and while Magallanes has only been there for one season, it would make sense to pull someone who has had the chance to learn about the organization throughout the season.

It’s been a long coaching career for Magallanes, but he hasn’t had the chance to be the guy in charge at the big league level. If he is willing to move on from his clearly successful working relationship with Kevin Seitzer and forge his own path with a new team, a former player with a deep appreciation for and knowledge of the mental side of the game could be a benefit to a team like the White Sox as they begin their youth movement.

Troy Snitker – Former Assistant Hitting Coach, Houston Astros

Much like a lot of the names on this list, Snitker, 36, represents an opportunity for the White Sox to take advantage of openings elsewhere.

After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016, though driven largely by injuries, the Astros decided to make a change and fire both their hitting coach, Alex Cintron, and Snitker, the team’s assistant hitting coach. In fairness, the team did grade out as just a league-average offense this season. However, for the previous six seasons Cintron and Snitker were together, Houston was one of, if not the top, offense in baseball from 2019-2024.

Snitker is the son of former Braves manager Brian Snitker. He is a former 19th-round draft pick who has only coached for the Astros throughout his career. He spent just one season as the team’s Double-A hitting coach before joining Alex Cintron at the major league level in 2019.

It appears this was a multi-year problem that led to the firing of both Cintron and Snitker, with the team’s ever-growing chase rates posing one of the biggest problems to Dana Brown and the rest of the Astros’ front office. The White Sox made strides in this department this year, but they also feature an offense with several free swingers, so it’s unclear how good a fit this might be if Snitker was previously unsuccessful in helping reign in swing decisions.

However, it would be shortsighted to overlook six seasons of hitting dominance because of one season. Snitker is viewed highly around the league, and perhaps a change of scenery, some lessons learned, and tweaks to philosophies could make this a strong fit for Snitker’s first time as the sole guy in charge – with some oversight from Fuller, of course.

Lou Iannotti – Assistant Hitting Coach, Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays went from worst to first in the AL East last season and are on the doorstep of the World Series. Much of it has to do with some of the overhauls they made in the coaching department, particularly on the hitting side, before the 2025 season to maximize the talent that was already there.

Iannotti, 33, is finishing up his first season with the Blue Jays alongside new hitting coach David Popkins. The two are credited with helping overhaul the team’s hitting approach after spending the spring preaching the need for different swings in different situations. The payoff is clear with the Blue Jays at the top of the league in several statistical categories: hits (first), average (first), OPS (third), OBP (first), SLG (seventh), and wRC+ (fourth).

Ionnotti spent the 2024 season as a hitting coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The North Haven, CT, native was with the Dodgers for seven seasons, serving in a variety of coaching and coordinator roles across the organization, including taking on the role of hitting coach for Double-A Tulsa in 2023. The former catcher played three seasons at Quinnipiac University from 2014-2016 before finishing his playing career with the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League in 2017. He is credited for his work with many of the Dodgers’ top minor league hitters, including Josue De Paula, Dalton Rushing, Zyhir Hope, Alex Freeland, Emil Morales, and Eduardo Quintero – five of whom are considered Top 100 prospects by Baseball America.

It would be hard for Iannotti to leave the strong situation he’s in as he chases a World Series ring, and not much is presently known about Iannotti’s overall approach/philosophy. However, given his strong track record with the Dodgers and Blue Jays, it would make sense for the White Sox to consider him as they’re looking for who may be next.

Jeff Albert – Director of Hitting, New York Mets

With the Mets choosing to go in a different direction with their hitting coach this offseason, could the team decide to revamp its entire hitting department?

An alumnus of the Butler University baseball team, Albert, 44, also has a master’s degree in kinesiology. He has worked in professional baseball for nearly 15 seasons with the Cardinals, Astros, and Mets. He started as a hitting coach in the minor leagues for the Cardinals for five years, then joined the Astros as their minor league hitting coordinator for four years. After the 2017 season, he was promoted to the Astros’ assistant hitting coach before leaving after the 2018 season to become the Cardinals’ hitting coach. He would spend four years in that role before heading to the Mets to become their director of hitting, the role he still holds today.

As for his appearance on this list: the Mets are one of the five teams mentioned by Baseball America as a team getting some high levels of production from their minor league hitters. In particular, the organization had eight hitters whose production was notable relative to their age, and Jett Williams, Carson Benge, and A.J. Ewing are among the players who have been called out for their impressive showings for the Mets in 2025. And, despite their collapse late in the season, the Mets were a top-five offense in baseball this season as well.

It’s unclear if Albert would want to leave a role similar to the one Ryan Fuller currently holds with the White Sox to return to the dugout. In truth, he and Fuller are likely in the same situation right now when it comes to overhauling a coaching staff, and it’s probably a situation he played a role in creating. However, it’s been rumored that the Mets might consider bringing him back into the dugout to fill the vacancy. If Albert is indeed open to returning to the dugout, it would be wise to call him, given his success with hitting development over the past few seasons.

Other Names Considered

As with the pitching coach article, here are some other names worth consideration that ultimately didn’t make the final 10 above. They should be credited for all the great work they’re currently doing, many of them for winning organizations.

  • Kevin Long – Hitting Coach, Philadelphia Phillies
  • Aaron Bates – Assistant Hitting Coach, Los Angeles Dodgers
  • Brady North – Former Assistant Hitting Coach, Tampa Bay Rays
  • Connor Dawson – Assistant Hitting Coach, Milwaukee Brewers
  • Eric Theisen – Assistant Hitting Coach, Milwaukee Brewers
  • Timothy McKeithan – Assistant Director of Hitting, Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Alex Cintron – Former Hitting Coach, Houston Astros
  • Hensley Meulens – Former Hitting Coach, Colorado Rockies

There were clearly a lot of names to consider – these 18 total don’t even represent the full list I considered. With teams hiring more hitting coaches than ever (with many having multiple assistant hitting coaches), it’s hard to tell who exactly should get what credit or blame in any given situation. Additionally, unlike with Bannister, there aren’t as many clear names with connections to Fuller to consider – given the current state of the Orioles’ organization, it’s not clear if there are too many guys that the White Sox would want to potentially pull from there.

Throwing all of that context aside, in the age of hitting “gurus” and more differences in philosophical approaches than ever, nothing will likely matter more to Ryan Fuller and Will Venable than alignment with what they are trying to build in Chicago.

I’m always open to hearing about any guys I missed, so feel free to send any across that you may think worth merit consideration!

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Featured Image: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

The post 10 potential candidates to become the next White Sox hitting coach appeared first on Sox On 35th.