New White Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon helped Marlins breakout star fix his mindset

The White Sox officially announced the hire of former Twins and Marlins coach Derek Shomon to be the team’s new hitting coach last week. The 35 year-old Chicago native spent years coaching in the independent Frontier League before landing a job with the Twins organization. He spent 2025 as an assistant hitting coach with Miami, who had a league average offense despite a roster of relatively unknown players. Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers' surprising all-star season was a big part of the reason why. Stowers joined Jarred Carrabis and former major league pitcher Dallas Braden on the Baseball is Dead podcast to discuss his breakout, which he partially attributed to Shomon.

“If I had to look back at one moment that, you know, started this so-called breakout or whatever you want to call it,” Stowers said. “During the spring, as I mentioned, I’m striking out twice a game. It literally feels like I had a 50% strikeout rate during the spring. One of the days, one of our hitting coaches, Derek Shomon, comes up to me and he goes, ‘Are you panicking?’ And I go, ‘No, I’m not panicking, like I’m just frustrated.’"

"And then we had an off-day the next day and he calls me and says the same thing. He goes, ‘Are you panicking?’ And I start to inch a little closer. I go, ‘Well, I wouldn’t say I’m panicking. I wouldn’t use that word, but maybe what you think I’m feeling is what I’m feeling, I just wouldn’t describe it as panicking.’ And the next day, I walk into the cage, and I just go, ‘I’m panicking because, you know, I’ve done all this great stuff in the cage — everything I just told you guys — and no results have shown.’ He goes, ‘Great. We can work with that.’”

Stowers went on to discuss how he regained confidence and took some pressure off himself, and the results then followed. Stowers finished the 2025 season with 25 home runs and a .912 OPS, and was named a Silver Slugger finalist in the National League. Some of the mentality changes may have been attributed to Stowers himself, but Shomon’s guidance seems to have initiated the shift. His ability to help the confidence and mentality of players will be especially beneficial to a young team looking to establish themselves in the big leagues. 

Shomon's modern approach will be a much-needed asset

Aside from being a lifelong Chicago-area resident, Shomon seems to be a great fit for the White Sox philosophically. He’s been open to using analytics and modern technology systems like TRAJEKT, which allowed hitters to face velocity and movement tuned to replicate a specific pitcher. Shomon put emphasis on swing decisions during his time with Miami, which has been a primary area of focus for the White Sox under Chris Getz and Ryan Fuller. Many of the young players on the team excel in the area of plate discipline, and it’ll be an important part of their development. Much of the improvement in the 2025 White Sox offense can be linked to the increased walk rate and lower chase rate, and Shomon's philosophy matches these goals.

It feels like the right hire at the right time for the White Sox, who will likely primarily rely on a step forward from their young core to improve the wins and losses mark in 2026. It’ll be an important year for development, and Chris Getz and Will Venable have been given an opportunity to bring in the coaches they feel will put the young players in the best position to succeed. Only time will tell if the results will follow, but it seems to be a sound process. Sound process hasn’t always been the norm for the White Sox, so for the fans, it’s something to be excited about.