Sox announce members of Tony La Russa's coaching staff

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Tony La Russa's coaching staff is in place.

The White Sox announced their new manager's assistant coaches Tuesday, a couple of the key names having been reported earlier this offseason.

Miguel Cairo, the former longtime major league infielder, is the White Sox new bench coach. Cairo previously worked as a minor league coach with the New York Yankees and as a front-office assistant with the Cincinnati Reds. He played for La Russa in two separate stints with the St. Louis Cardinals. Cairo takes over for Joe McEwing, who was Rick Renteria's bench coach for the past four seasons. McEwing, who also played for La Russa in St. Louis, remains on the White Sox staff as the third-base coach. It will be McEwing's 14th season in the White Sox organization.

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Ethan Katz is the White Sox new pitching coach. He arrives after his first season on a big league staff; he was the San Francisco Giants' assistant pitching coach in 2020. Prior to a career as a minor league coach in three different organizations, Katz was Lucas Giolito's pitching coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in Southern California. Katz succeeds Don Cooper, who the team parted ways with in October after 18 seasons as pitching coach.

Also new to the South Side is Shelley Duncan, the team's new analytics coordinator. Duncan is the son of longtime La Russa assistant Dave Duncan and spent parts of seven seasons as a major leaguer. He spent four years as a minor league manager before joining the Toronto Blue Jays' staff last season.

La Russa indicated that he would like some continuity from Renteria's staff to his after the White Sox accomplished so much growth in 2020, and a large chunk of the staff, in addition to McEwing, remains.

Frank Menechino is staying on as the White Sox hitting coach. 2020 was his first season in the job, and the White Sox had one of the most productive lineups in baseball, leading the American League in home runs and slugging percentage and ranking second in runs scored and OPS. Assistant hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh, who was also in his first year with the team in 2020, left earlier this offseason to become the new hitting coach with the Detroit Tigers.

Curt Hasler is staying on as the White Sox assistant pitching coach. 2021 will be his 30th year as a pitching coach in the White Sox organization.

Daryl Boston is staying on as the team's first-base coach. 2021 will be his 24th year as a coach in the White Sox organization.

Howie Clark replaces Coolbaugh as the White Sox assistant hitting coach. He was scheduled to be the hitting coach at Triple-A Charlotte last season and previously worked on the Baltimore Orioles' big league staff.

It was previously reported that third-base coach Nick Capra would not return after four seasons on Renteria’s staff.

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