Chicago turns heads as the White Sox hire the manager who once guided Tim Tebow, bringing a fresh dynamic to their MLB staff. DD
The White Sox are hiring former Mets minor league manager Jose Leger, who used to manage Tim Tebow, as their first base coach.
On the heels of a 102-loss season, the White Sox have made substantial changes to their major league coaching staff. Among the notable departures were hitting coach Marcus Thames, pitching coach Ethan Katz, and first-base coach Jason Bourgeois. Thames and Bourgeois have already joined other organizations in coaching roles. The White Sox announced the hirings of Zach Bove and Derek Shomon to fill the pitching and hitting coach roles, and we now know the identity of the new first base coach as well. According to James Fegan of Sox Machine, the White Sox will be hiring Dominican Winter League and Cardinals minor league manager Jose Leger as their first base coach.
Jose Leger brings years of experience to a young team
Leger, 43, spent a brief stint as a player in the Minnesota Twins organization before making the switch to coaching. He joined the Twins DSL staff in 2009 before moving to the Mets organization as a minor league manager from 2010-2017. Notably, Leger managed football-star-turned-baseball-player Tim Tebow during his stint in the Mets organization in 2017.
Leger departed the Mets in 2018 to take a job in the St. Louis Cardinals organization as their Latin American Field Coordinator. In 2021, he became a manager once more, taking the helm of the Double-A Springfield Cardinals. Prior to 2025, Leger was promoted to Minor League Field & Baserunning Coordinator in the Cardinals organization. Heâll now make the jump to a big league coaching staff for the first time, joining the White Sox as the teamâs first base coach.
Leger will likely oversee the outfield defense and baserunning for the White Sox, as similar responsibilities have been given to first-base coaches in the past. In addition to his time in minor league baseball, Leger has coached and managed in the Dominican League since 2008, so he brings a wealth of experience in different roles and with different teams. The White Sox have a young coaching staff with several members in their specific roles for the first time, so bringing on a veteran coach with managerial experience in some form is much-needed.
The impact of a first-base coach may not be directly felt on the field, but itâs another example of an outside hire from an analytically-minded organization by GM Chris Getz. The White Sox recent coaching hires and front office additions have been notably different from hires under the past regime, and itâs a welcome change. The White Sox full coaching staff has not yet been announced, but should be in the near future. The White Sox organization needed a complete overhaul, and for the first time in a long time, it feels like theyâre headed in the right direction.
