The White Sox named Paul Janish as the organization’s director of player development Thursday. Janish, 41, replaces Chris Getz, who was named the Sox’ senior vice president/general manager on Aug. 31 after seven seasons overseeing the club’s minor-league system.
Janish (pronounced (YAN-ish) was Rice University’s associate head coach the last two seasons. Recently named assistant general manager Josh Barfield was the Diamondbacks’ director of player development and will have a significant hand on the Sox’ operation, and Getz spent is fresh off the same job with the Sox. So Janish’s lack of experience isn’t being viewed as a large drawback.
“With 13 years in professional baseball, including nine in the major leagues, and another six years at Rice University, Paul brings a wealth of experience to our organization,” Getz said.
“Very well respected, high intelligence, understanding of the game, high IQ. Communication ability is certainly top of the chart. He’s going to thrive in this position.”
Janish, who has known Barfield since their youth and was pursued for hire by Barfield in the past, played in parts of nine seasons with Cincinnati (2008-11), Atlanta (2012-13) and Baltimore (2015-17).
Janish was hired as Rice assistant coach in 2017. The Owls are 38-76 the last two seasons, but 14 Rice players were drafted during his tenure, including five in the top 10 rounds.
“The biggest thing is familiarizing myself with the organization,” Janish said. “We’re going to spend a lot of time in the next couple of weeks with the org chart to make sure I’ve got a real good understanding of both staff and also transitioning to the players.”
Getz is in the midst of organizational meetings and is preparing for the GM meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., next week. He will name a hitting coach and first base coach soon.
“I certainly have a vision for our club for next year and years after,” Getz said. “Some of it is going to be at the mercy of perhaps some other clubs and what they’re willing to do. We’ve got some holes to fill. We may have to get fairly creative on how we tackle some of those holes, but I look forward to really diving in deeper and getting in front of some of these other general managers and seeing what we can accomplish.”
