The White Sox came as close as they possibly could to winning the American League Central in 2026, falling just one game short of beating the Guardians for the division. Going into the season, not many expected Chicago and Cleveland to be the two teams competing for the division crown. The Tigers spent money this past offseason after nearly winning the division in 2025 and seemed like the easy favorites, and the Royals were expected to not be far behind. Instead, both of those teams heavily underperformed, opening the door for the young White Sox to take a big step forward.
With eyes now on 2027, the door is open for the White Sox to contend for the division title for years to come, and the door may be open even a little bit further with news of the departure of a key coach from the Guardians. Conner Watson, the Assistant Director of Hitting Development for the Guardians for the past two seasons, has been hired as Director of Hitting Development by the Houston Astros.
The Guardians lost a strong analytical mind to the Houston Astros
Prior to joining the Guardians, Watson was the lead hitting coach at Driveline, a Seattle-based sports complex that has historically worked with several big name major league players and others trying to fix their swing. White Sox catcher Edgar Quero spent last winter working on his launch angle and bat speed with the coaches at Driveline's Arizona location. Watson was known during his time in Cleveland as an analytical mind who focused on mechanics and approach and used modern technology to work with the organization’s hitters. While the Guardians organization is more famous for developing pitchers, they feature an impressive crop of young hitters and position-player prospects, including Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter, Angel Genao, Ralphy Velasquez, and more.
Jaison Chourio and Ralphy Velasquez represented the @CleGuardians well in the MLB All-Star Futures Game on Saturday night 👏 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/YIbHhDZ8uj
— FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland (@FanDuelSN_CLE) July 14, 2024
The Guardians have always preferred a player development and analytics approach to team building rather than spending money to acquire players, so losing one of their key analytical minds in their hitting development is a big blow. The White Sox could do well by looking at the Guardians model for a player development system, though a bigger market team like Chicago should be willing to do more in the free agency department as well.
If the White Sox-Guardians rivalry felt intense this season, I think we haven’t seen anything yet. The White Sox average age of 27.2 ranks as the third-youngest roster in all of baseball, and the Guardians at 27.7 are also in the top ten. Both teams have several more excellent prospects waiting in the wings, so it doesn’t feel like this rivalry is going anywhere anytime soon. This will be a crucial offseason, but there’s no reason the White Sox shouldn’t be in the thick of the AL Central race again in 2027. And these two teams have the potential to be perennial rivals.
The division-title door is open, and this blow to the Guardians staff may just help push it open a little further.
Add us as a preferred source on Google