Chicago White Sox: A.J. Pierzynski should manage one day
Former Chicago White Sox catcher, A.J. Pierzynski, would make a great manager for them or someone else someday if he ever decided that’s what he wanted.
There are plenty of former Chicago White Sox alumni that could end up managing one day. Not many of them, however, stick out more than A.J. Pierzynski. The former catcher has made it well known that he is a brilliant baseball mind who sees the game in ways that a good manager would. It will be interesting to see if he ever decides to become a coach with the White Sox or any team in Major League Baseball for that matter.
The White Sox already have Rick Renteria in place right now. He may or may not be around for a while but for now, he’s the guy. For Pierzynski, it might be wise to gain some coaching experience in other areas. A catchers coach, hitting coach, or bench coach might be something to pursue before jumping right into a managerial spot. Jumping right into coaching without any experience at all would be a less than ideal situation, for sure.
Catchers do often go on to be good MLB managers. A good portion of the managers in baseball today were catchers at some point in their careers. It is probably the most well-represented position in the managerial union. The reason that happens is that when they were playing, they had the viewpoint of the entire field. To play catcher, you almost have to think about how a manager would handle certain situations.
Pierzynski was a great MLB player. He rose to fame with the White Sox, especially their run to becoming the 2005 World Series Champions. He also made stops with the Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers. He had a career slash line of .280/.319/.420. He hit 188 home runs, had 909 RBIs, and 807 runs scored. It was some very good production for a catcher who was also pretty good at his position defensively.
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If the White Sox ever wanted to let A.J. get some experience coaching in other areas, he might be a good candidate for that before they eventually make him their MLB manager. Who knows, even a spot as a Minor League manager could work out at first until he is ready. Either way that they went about it would be really cool to see as a fan.