Marcus Thames was warned by Tigers manager Jim Leyland years ago that managers and coaches are hired to be fired.
So a pink slip from the White Sox wouldn’t have shocked Thames after just one season as their hitting coach. A record 121 losses in 2024 and finishing last in multiple hitting categories will do that.
But when general manager Chris Getz reconfigured the Sox’ hitting operation by firing assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar in August and naming 33-year-old Joel McKeithan as assistant hitting coach and 34-year-old Ryan Fuller as director of hitting, Thames, 47, was kept in the mix.
“I thanked Chris and said, “what can I do to make us better?” Thames told the Sun-Times this week.
Thames, who hit 115 homers for the Tigers, Yankees, Rangers and Dodgers from 2002-11 before embarking on a coaching career that includes stints as hitting coach of the Yankees, Marlins and Sox, values the up-to-date concepts, biomechanics and information from the new breed on the instructional and coaching side.
“Pitching is so far ahead of everything, and this aligns everybody from top to bottom,” Thames said. “Ryan will oversee and make sure we’re all doing what we should be as an organization. Make sure we’re uniform. Going to have that presence.”
Getz added senior advisor of pitching Brian Bannister to the staff last year, and now comes Fuller, who Thames said has been “fantastic to work with.”
“A lot of teams are doing it now,” Thames said.
“He’s up to date with a lot of new things that are going on in the hitting industry. So it’s going to help. With my experience and his expertise, and McKeithan’s expertise, Getz is getting a good group together on the hitting side to get this thing off the ground and running in the right direction.”
Fuller was the Orioles’ co-hitting coach the last three seasons and McKeithan the Reds’ hitting coach the last two. The role of offensive coordinator, a new title on the Sox’ staff, will be manned by Grady Sizemore, who closed out the season as interim manager when Pedro Grifol was fired.
“We match up really well,” Fuller said of the hitting staffers, “and it’s been a great working relationship so far and I know it’s one we’ll continue to work at moving forward.”
With spring training starting in four weeks on Feb. 12, Thames said the group’s thought processes are getting aligned.
“We have to know who we are as an offense,” Thames said.
“We can mesh together well.”
There is a lot to untangle after last season, which tied all involved with the Sox in knots.
“It was tough,” Thames said of his first season on the South Side. “I know how loyal the White Sox’ fan base is. And they want
to win. It was hard, but you have to put it
behind you, come back and learn from it and be better in 2025.”
The hitters Thames worked with when he was with the Yankees and Angels were ranked among AL leaders in several categories, so it’s not like Thames forgot how to coach.
But Thames had less to work with on the Sox, and he has had to learn patience with younger players. More will be needed in 2025 with a roster that, on paper, looks like another 100-loss team. Player development at the major-league level is the goal.
“It’s hard to develop up here but it’s a piece to the puzzle,” said Thames, whose projects include Lenyn Sosa, Miguel Vargas, Zach DeLoach, Dominic Fletcher and Bryan Ramos. Sosa made strides late in the season, and Vargas struggled after coming from the Dodgers in a trade.
When Thames was 5 years old, his mother was paralyzed from injuries sustained in an auto accident. His father, who was driving, would not be part of a young, no-frills life full of challenges in Louisville, Mississippi. His mother died in 2012, and last month an uncle who became Thames’ close father figure died. He brings perspective to the room, and optimism for better things ahead for the Sox.
“You lose that many games, if you didn’t learn anything from that, you got a problem,” Thames said. “I learned a lot about who I am and what I need to get better at to help these guys perform better.”