On Thursday morning, the Chicago White Sox announced the promotion of Chris Getz to senior vice president and general manager of the team.
Chris Getz, 39, was previously in charge of the White Sox' minor league operations and player development system, and also served as the assistant general manager.
Let's dive into who the White Sox have entrusted to turn the organization around after falling beyond short of expectation over the last two seasons.
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Out of high school, Getz was selected in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the White Sox but instead chose to play baseball at Wake Forest University. He transferred to the University of Michigan after one season.
The White Sox drafted him again in 2005, this time in the fourth round with the 125th-overall pick.
Getz made his MLB debut in 2008, recording his first major league hit and RBI in his very first at-bat. The next season, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén appointed him the team's starting second baseman out of spring training.
In 117 games with the White Sox, Getz slashed .262/.323/.346 with 32 RBI and seven fielding errors.
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The White Sox traded Getz to the Kansas City Royals in the 2009 offseason, and he went on to play a total of 459 games over seven MLB seasons, slashing .250/.309/.307 with three home runs, 111 RBI and 89 stolen bases. He announced his retirement in May 2014.
Getz served as assistant to player development in the Royals organization for two years, winning a World Series title and back-to-back pennants, before returning to the White Sox in 2016 to oversee the minor league system. From 2017 to 2020, he served as director of player development.
In 2021, Getz was promoted to Assistant General Manager/Player Development and served under that title for the last three seasons.
The White Sox' farm system fell from No. 1 in 2017 to No. 30 by 2021 after graduating a swarm of talented prospects, including Luis Robert Jr., Yoán Moncada, Eloy Jiménez, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease. As of August 2023, MLB.com has Getz' system ranked at No. 20 – six spots better than it was to start the season thanks to a hefty deadline sell-off.
“Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience within our organization to this role,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “Most importantly, he knows our players, both at the major league level and in our system, knows our staff and is familiar with all aspects of our baseball operations department.
"Chris has impressed me greatly over the past seven years. In our conversations together this season, I have become energized by his vision, approach and sense of what this organization needs to become competitive again. With his existing knowledge of the organization, top to bottom, I believe his leadership will provide us with the quickest path forward to our goal, a consistently successful baseball team that competes and plays the game the right way. He will re-energize this organization.”
“I am honored and humbled to be given this leadership responsibility,” Getz said in a statament. “I understand what this team means to White Sox fans, and I am excited to begin the work today and during the remainder of this season. There is a great deal of talent within this clubhouse and within this ballpark, and we are going to diligently begin to do the work and lay the foundation for an organization and a team we all take pride in, from the staff, to the players, to our fans.”