SF assistant leaves for White Sox
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler and new Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa may not seem like they have much in common, but both have now taken a chance on Ethan Katz.
After Kapler hired Katz to serve as the team’s assistant pitching coach in 2020, La Russa is reportedly set to announce that Katz will be the White Sox pitching coach in 2021.
Katz’s departure marks the first for a Giants coach under Kapler, who assembled the largest coaching staff in the major leagues by hiring 13 a ssistants a head of his first season with the club. Katz was one of four pitching coaches and he made a strong impression with many of the Giants’ young relievers and was often seen working closely with starters in the bullpen before games.
La Russa has never worked with Katz in a professional capacity, but the former Giants assistant does have a strong relationship with Chicago White sox ace Lucas Giolito. Katz, 37, was a pitching coach at Harvard-Westlake High (CA) when Giolito and fellow major leaguers Jack Flaherty (Cardinals) and Max Fried (Braves) all pitched in the same high school rotation.
Katz played collegiately at Sacramento State, pitched for four seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization and also worked in the Angels and Mariners farm systems before becoming a minor league pitching coordinator with the Giants in 2019.
Katz’s hiring rules out the possibility of a reunion for La Russa and longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan, who worked together when La Russa managed the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals.