For this Sox coach, it's family over baseball

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Call it the most prolific of mic drops, or to quote Seinfeld’s George Costanza, going out on a high note.

Whatever the terminology, John Ely left as a champion from the White Sox organization as the pitching coach for Double-A Birmingham’s 2024 Southern League titlists. So, why is Ely departing after guiding the Barons’ hurlers?

It’s not that Ely had any issue with the White Sox, or vice versa, having previously worked with Great Falls, Single-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem since 2017, before joining manager Sergio Santos’ Birmingham staff. Ely simply has strengthened the path of family first.

Ely and his wife, Kelly, welcomed their first child, Brooks, on Oct. 9, 2024 after going through In-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. As soon as Brooks arrived, Ely’s leanings toward a career change were infinitely reinforced.

“You see this guy come out and it’s like, especially your first child, it’s like my god, instant just romance. Instantly love. It wasn’t even a question,” Ely said. “Then you just look at your wife and look at what we did. Everything else goes away and that’s all that matters.”

The White Sox selected Ely, a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High school located 23 miles from Guaranteed Rate Field, in the third round of the 2007 Draft. He was 14-2 with a 2.82 ERA for the Barons in 2009 before he was sent to the Dodgers as part of an offseason trade for outfielder Juan Pierre. He made 25 appearances for Los Angeles from 2010-12 before moving into a coaching career with the White Sox.

Minor League coaching is a passion as much as a job, and it’s also a serious commitment. Ely worked eight of nine instructional league periods, and there are performance camps in January attached to more inclusive offseason programs.

So, the time away from his wife, dog and now son could stack up as seven to eight months.

“It was a little bit too much to think about, even though we had so much success,” Ely said. “Once we got pregnant, it was such a relief.

“No. 1, that we finally got the opportunity and every day you are waiting on edge, you are hoping everything goes well. From a distance, I was like, ‘Dang, I don’t know once this kid arrives if I’m ever going to be able to go back to leaving my family.’”

Ely also has dealt with having a degenerative cerebral disease called Ataxia, which can damage the cerebral core. It’s something his father has too, leaving him unable to walk since he was 45, according to Ely. John and Kelly went the IVF route, knowing there was a 50/50 chance the disease could be passed on to their children.

“I’m not going to gamble with my kids’ lives,” said Ely, who is in good health at 38. “I watched my dad go through it and it’s kind of hell. I’m fine and I haven’t felt anything yet. Depending on what happens, I would never want anybody to have to deal with that again.

“It’s not about me. It’s about the journey that my wife and I had. We decided we are going to do this the right way and we ended up having a very healthy young boy named Brooks.”

With a successful coaching tenure behind him, Ely continues as the pitching and throwing coordinator for Johansen Baseball. Ely also is working with Matt Colleran, his ex-agent, recruiting players and giving them feedback on what their development could look like.

His most important jobs are Brooks’ father and Kelly’s husband, which are bigger titles than anything won in Birmingham.

“Oh gosh, yes. Totally understand,” said White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski, who was made aware by Ely in July of a possible departure. “He gave us kind of a little bit of a heads up and it wasn’t one of those to where as soon as his contract ended, he just decided to be like, ‘Hey, peace out guys. I’m not coming back.’

“Then you are scrambling to find another hire. That’s the type of guy he is. We definitely thought highly of John.”