The White Sox have named Rick Renteria manager, the club announced Monday morning, after Robin Ventura said Sunday he would not be returning at the end of the season.
Despite a report earlier in the week that said the Sox had privately decided to keep Ventura aboard after his contract expires, should he choose to stay, both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday that Renteria would be taking the helm.
The move makes 54-year-old Renteria the 40th manager in White Sox history and the only current Latino manager in Major League Baseball. It also makes him the second person to manage both the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox.
“I appreciate this tremendous opportunity to manage the Chicago White Sox,” Renteria said in a release.
“It is a great honor as well as a great responsibility. Over the past season as Robin Ventura’s bench coach, I have gotten to know the players and staff very well, and I look forward to helping us achieve our goals together. We want to field a team that plays smart baseball, takes advantage of any opportunity within the game, and competes hard each and every day in a way that makes White Sox fans proud of our team’s effort."
The White Sox have failed to reach the postseason for eight consecutive years, five of which have been under Ventura's leadership. Renteria managed the Cubs in 2014, before being let go upon the hiring of Joe Maddon. After a year out of baseball, he was brought on as the White Sox's bench coach following the 2015 season.
“Rick is incredibly well respected within the game as one of the top baseball men,” general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement. “We obviously have been very impressed by Rick over his past year as bench coach. He is a knowledgeable teacher of the game who loves to develop players and spends hours watching video looking for any nuance that gives us an edge. He is well respected within the clubhouse, and his ability to communicate in English and Spanish is a real plus as he interacts with our players.”
Chicago Baseball
The White Sox plan to address the change at an end-of-the-season press conference with Hahn at U.S. Cellular Field at 11 a.m.
