White Sox hire Fuller from Orioles as hitting director
Scott Merkin
@scottmerkinCHICAGO -- Ryan Fuller can draw from all his past coaching experiences with Baltimore as the new White Sox director of hitting, with his hiring officially announced on Thursday afternoon.
Fuller, 34, served as co-hitting coach over the past three seasons for the power-packed Orioles. He was Baltimore¡¯s full-season hitting coordinator and Double-A Bowie hitting coach for the 2021 season, and originally joined the Orioles as the Single-A Delmarva hitting coach prior to the 2020 campaign.
In this newly created White Sox position, Fuller oversees all aspects of hitting throughout the organization. He¡¯ll work with the hitting coaches at the Major League level and within the Minor Leagues, as well as the players. Offseason planning already has begun via Fuller having talks with Marcus Thames, who returns for his second year as White Sox hitting coach.
¡°It's key for these guys to develop relationships,¡± Fuller said concerning the importance of Thames returning in his role from 2024. ¡°We've been on Zoom calls virtually every day, talking to each other, asking a lot of questions: 'What's going on? What can we make improvements to? How can I support you even more?'
¡°Both of us talking about experiences working with really high-level hitters, talking about what we can do as we look toward the player plan for the White Sox hitters going into 2025. It's been great so far. We match up really well, and it's been a great working relationship."
This position for Fuller is akin to the one held by Brian Bannister, who took over as the White Sox senior advisor to pitching on Sept. 22, 2023. Fuller has spoken to Bannister about how he¡¯s gone about things with the White Sox but also about his past experience as a director.
White Sox pitching presently is well ahead of the offensive side, at the Major League and Minor League levels. The White Sox finished last in everything from home runs (133) to runs scored (507) to batting average (.221) to on-base percentage (.278) as part of their 121-loss season in 2024.
Of their Top 9 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, three are on the position-player side in shortstop Colson Montgomery (No. 3), catcher Edgar Quero (No. 4) and 18-year-old outfielder George Wolkow at No. 7. So, Fuller has work to do, but he has ideas for improvement and success, as well as a synergistic message delivered throughout hitting but also to research and development and the strength staff.
¡°We are excited to reach out to the players in the next couple of weeks to give them the offseason training goals and plans, and after that, certainly touch base with them,¡± Fuller said. ¡°That¡¯s part of being a hitting guy, getting those messages from the guys with their swings, seeing video of them working out. And I know Marcus has a plan to go out and see hitters this offseason. [I'm] excited to be a part of that and develop those relationships.¡±
¡°He¡¯s going to help on the acquisition front -- whether it be this offseason on free-agent acquisitions or trade acquisitions -- and going to help Marcus and other coaches throughout the organization put together game plans and development plans for our players,¡± general manager Chris Getz said of Fuller. ¡°We know it¡¯s a tall task to take on hitting. But we certainly know we¡¯re an organization that needs help, and we felt like we found someone that could really supplement and help lead us to a better position for future success.¡±
Fuller wants to equip the players with skills, plans and training to ¡°level up¡± through their work. In explaining that concept, Fuller went with a video game reference.
¡°When you play video games, you start at Level 1 and when you beat the Level 1 boss, you go to Level 2. You don¡¯t jump to Level 30 right away,¡± Fuller said. ¡°It¡¯s going to have that feel of making sure these guys are building their skill every day. As we are building that skill, we are going to look to problem-solve.
¡°We are going to look to find really messy solutions at times, because we know the more learning we can do, the more challenging environments we can provide for these hitters in the context where they are currently with their skill, the more likely they are going to have success when the lights come on at 7 p.m. each night. ¡ We are not just going to put someone in a situation where they are going to fail over and over again.¡±