White Sox announce Omar Vizquel’s promotion to AA Birmingham

The White Sox announced the promotion of manager Omar Vizquel to their Class AA affiliate in Birmingham, Ala., and promoted Justin Jirschele to fill Vizquel’s chair at advanced Class A Winston-Salem.

In his first season as a manager, Vizquel — who built a Hall-of-Fame caliber resume as a three-time All-Star and an 11-time Gold Glove shortstop as a major leaguer — was named Carolina League manager of the year after leading Winston-Salem to an 84-54 regular-season record. Justin Jirschele, 28, takes over at Winston-Salem after his second season managing at Class A Kannapolis.

“With Omar you look at how he matched up with the team that he had last year,” said Sox director of player development Chris Getz, who is returning for his third season. “Last year was pretty heavy with priority players. We felt that those priority players developed well. They took a lot of steps forward. It made a lot of sense to move some of those players up with Omar, as well as [hitting coach] Charlie Poe.

“[Vizquel] created a great culture at Winston-Salem, those guys responded and we expect something similar to happen in Birmingham at a higher level.”

Vizquel collected 2,877 during his playing career with the Mariners, Indians, Giants, Sox, Rangers and Blue Jays. He finished as baseball’s all-time leader in games played (2,709) and fielding percentage (.985) among shortstops.

“He has such a passion for the game but he also has a passion for instruction,” Getz said. “He’s a great communicator. When he walks in the room he’s going to command the room just based on his history. But he’s such a genuine person, therefore he can build relationships very quickly and get buy-in very quickly. It kind of showed last year in the progress that was made with a lot of those players.”

Vizquel’s promotion was first reported in December.

Mark Grudzielanek returns for a third season at AAA Charlotte, where pitching coach Steve McCatty is back for a fourth season. Charlotte hitting coach Frank Menechino, the Miami Marlins hitting coach from 2014-18, is one of two coaching staff newcomers to the system along with Wes Helms at Birmingham. Menechino played seven seasons in the majors with Oakland (1999-2004) and Toronto (2004-05) and Helms played 13 seasons with Atlanta (1998, 2000-02), Milwaukee (2003-05), Florida (2006, ’08-11) and the Phillies (2007).

Matt Lisle was named to a newly added position as hitting analytics instructor, focused on the player development side.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTORS

Director of Player Development: Chris Getz

Field Coordinator: Doug Sisson

Director of Minor League Pitching Instruction: Kirk Champion

Assistant Pitching Coordinator: Everett Teaford

Assistant Pitching Coordinator: J.R. Perdew

Hitting Coordinator: Mike Gellinger

Hitting Analytics Instructor: Matt Lisle

Catching Coordinator: John Orton

Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator: Aaron Rowand

Leadership and Development Coordinator: Ben Broussard

Strength and Conditioning Coordinator: Dale Torborg

Medical Coordinator: Scott Takao

Physical Therapist/Rehab Coordinator: Derek Garris

ASSISTANTS TO PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Assistant, Player Development: Rafael Santana

Assistant, Player Development: Tommy Thompson

Assistant, Player Development: Rod Larson

Assistant, Player Development: Graham Harboe

Rehab Pitching Coach: Brian Drahman

Education Coordinator: Erin Santana

Latin/Cultural Development Coordinator: Anthony Santiago

ARIZONA OPERATIONS

Facility Manager: Joe Lachcik

Minor League Clubhouse and Equipment Manager: Dan Flood

Assistant Minor League Clubhouse Manager: Bryant Biasotti

Latin Education Assistant: Grant Flick

CLASS AAA CHARLOTTE

Manager: Mark Grudzielanek

Pitching Coach: Steve McCatty

Hitting Coach: Frank Menechino

Coach: Guillermo Quiroz

Trainer: Josh Fallin

Conditioning: Shawn Powell

CLASS AA BIRMINGHAM

Manager: Omar Vizquel

Pitching Coach: Richard Dotson

Hitting Coach: Charlie Poe

Coach: Wes Helms

Trainer: Corey Barton

Conditioning: Tim Rodmaker

CLASS A WINSTON-SALEM

Manager: Justin Jirschele

Pitching Coach: Matt Zaleski

Hitting Coach: Jamie Dismuke

Trainer: Hyeon Kim

Conditioning: George Timke

CLASS A KANNAPOLIS

Manager: Ryan Newman

Pitching Coach: José Bautista

Hitting Coach: Cole Armstrong

Coach: Ryan Johansen

Trainer: Joe Geck

Conditioning: Goldy Simmons

ADVANCED ROOKIE GREAT FALLS

Manager: Tim Esmay

Pitching Coach: John Ely

Hitting Coach: Cam Seitzer

Trainer: Carson Wooten

Conditioning: Tyler Gniadek

ARIZONA ROOKIE LEAGUE

Manager: Ever Magallanes

Pitching Coach: Felipe Lira

Hitting Coach: Gary Ward

Coach: Louis Silverio

Trainer: Scott Johnson

Conditioning: Daniel Cobian

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ACADEMY

Field Coordinator: Guillermo Reyes

Complex Operations Coordinator: Manuel Santana

Assistant, Administration: Carolina Santos

Manager: Ángel Rosario

Pitching Coach: Leo Hernández

Hitting Coach: Ángel González

Assistant Pitching Coach: José Brito

Assistant Hitting Coach: Charlie Romero

Outfield Coach: Julio Ramírez

Trainer: José Del Villar

Conditioning Coach: Pedro Gómez