The White Sox have one less candidate involved in their manager search.
According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, Rangers offensive coordinator and bench coach Donnie Ecker is no longer in the running. He is expected to remain in his current role with Texas.
Ecker, 38, has been with the Rangers since the 2022 season. Before his time in Arlington, he spent two seasons as the hitting coach of the San Francisco Giants and the 2019 season as an assistant hitting coach with the Cincinnati Reds. The former 22nd-round draft pick of the Rangers (2007) also has experience in the player development department with the St. Louis Cardinals.
His role with the Rangers has included some of the traditional bench coach duties, along with implementing a “top-down” hitting program from the big leagues down throughout the minor leagues. Ecker’s deep-hitting background likely had some appeal to the White Sox, given their historic hitting development woes, both at the major league and minor league levels.
Ecker aside, the White Sox have been publicly linked to the following candidates:
- Former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker
- Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough
- Former Mets skipper Buck Showalter
- Former Angels manager Phil Nevin
- Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso
- Rangers associate manager Will Venable
- Tigers bench coach George Lombard
- Padres special assistant to major league staff and baseball operations A.J. Ellis
- Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehmann
The list represents quite a large breadth of experience, though almost all names are either currently in the dugout in some role, a former MLB player, or both. With even more names likely in the running, including interim manager Grady Sizemore, it’s unclear how much longer the White Sox have in their search. Things sound pretty far along as is, so be on the lookout for the club to announce a hire as early as this week.
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Featured Photo: © Nathan Ray Seebeck
