All the buzz surrounding the White Sox coaching staff during the 2026 season began to pay off this week, as other organizations have begun to poach from Chicago. White Sox assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan, who spent the last two seasons on staff under Will Venable, has been hired as the hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals. Chris Getz had previously indicated that all coaches on the White Sox staff were expected to return in 2027, but promotions are the exception, and McKeithan will get a chance to work with a young Cardinals team who should be on the upswing. His departure leaves the White Sox with the challenge of filling his role under hitting coach Derek Shomon this offseason.
Joel McKeithan's background in analytics helped the White Sox grow
McKeithan, 35, played college baseball at Vanderbilt and NC State but never played affiliated pro ball. After a few years in independent leagues, his focus switched to coaching, and he worked as a hitting instructor at Driveline from 2016-2018. In 2019, he joined the Philadelphia Phillies organization as a minor league hitting coach, and he became the minor league hitting coordinator for the Tigers in 2021. In 2022, he joined the Reds as the assistant hitting coach and offensive coordinator, and was promoted to the team’s big league hitting coach after just one season in the role. McKeithan worked as the Reds hitting coach for 2023 and 2024 and was let go following the season prior to joining the White Sox as the assistant hitting coach.
McKeithan originally worked under Marcus Thames, but stayed on staff following Thames’ departure at the end of 2025. White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller took to twitter to express his thoughts on McKeithan’s departure
Well deserved opportunity for @JoelMcKeithan
— Ryan Fuller (@FullerHitting) November 4, 2026
He helped us grow, and he’s going to do the same for the Cardinals https://t.co/T1keFAduaO
The White Sox are likely in the preliminary stages of figuring out a replacement for McKeithan with the hire only having been announced this week, and James Fegan of the Chicago SunTimes reports that the team is likely to hire from outside the organization. Chris Getz has done well with hiring from smart teams in the past, so he should be in good shape to do it again.
Losing coaches is an unfortunate price of winning. So far, McKeithan is the only coach that will be departing the White Sox, but it’s possible they could lose more. Bench coach Walker McKinven was a candidate for the Mariners manager job, but was ultimately not hired, and Assistant GM Josh Barfield was a candidate for the Astros GM job and was not hired. Houston and the Angels are still looking for a manager, and the Angels are also looking for a GM. Both guys could still be in the mix for those positions.
Hopefully, the White Sox can retain as many of their coaches as possible, but losing some to promotions is to be expected over the next few years. That’s the price of being a contending team.
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