Shomon knows what it takes to build up to playoff contention

CHICAGO – Derek Shomon might have experienced the 2026 White Sox future before joining the team this offseason as its new Major League hitting coach.

The 35-year-old spent the past campaign as the Marlins’ assistant hitting coach, working with a club that jumped from a 62-100 record in ’24 to a 79-83 ledger in ’25 and stayed on the outskirts of National League Wild Card contention until the final weeks with a 14-6 September run.

As for the White Sox? They finished with a 60-102 record in ’25, with many prospects gaining valuable on-field experience. The Marlins had the youngest roster overall by average age, while the White Sox ranked tied for eighth offensively and fourth for their pitchers, per Baseball Reference.

“There are a ton of similarities roster comp-wise,” Shomon told MLB.com, before speaking directly of the ’25 White Sox. “I saw improved swing decisions. I saw a team that can make contact with some pieces that can slug. And just continuing to build on that and really build on the work that they did in the second half.

“There were a lot of parallels. When you have these young guys, this is such an amazing opportunity for you to get 500 plate appearances and establish or continue to establish yourself as a Major League player that can add Major League value. It's exciting, right?”

Despite losing at least 100 games for the third straight year, the White Sox went from 41 victories in ’24 to 60 in manager Will Venable’s inaugural season. It wasn’t so much the increase in wins -- improving from the record-breaking failure of ’24 was an afterthought -- but more about how the club changed.

That post-All-Star break work referenced by Shomon featured 89 home runs, eighth-most in the league, with Chicago’s 315 runs scored tying them for 10th overall. They did it with young players such as shortstop Colson Montgomery, catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero and infielder Chase Meidroth, as well as pitchers Shane Smith, Grant Taylor and Mike Vasil getting their first extended Major League look.

So, what’s the next step for the 2026 White Sox? Even if general manager Chris Getz further tweaks the roster through free agent additions or trades, he has readily admitted the biggest improvement will center upon the ongoing development of this group and others coming from the Minors.

White Sox players understand that concept. Since right-handed reliever Jordan Leasure has been back home in Florida for the offseason, he has thought about the meaning of the progress made by his team during the second half of the 2025 campaign.

“If we played like we did in the second half [through] the whole season, who knows what would have happened? We at least would have been around .500 for the season,” Leasure said in a recent interview. “It’s super exciting. We had a 20-game win progression from ‘24 to this year. If we do that again this next season, we are in the playoffs or pushing for it.

“I’m sure that’s what all the guys are looking for this season. Now that we did it in the second half, where it’s like we are winning games, and we are in a lot of competitive games, even the ones we were losing we were in, we know we can do that. A lot of us are super excited to keep going on and winning a lot more games and see what happens.”

Getz speaks proudly of the infrastructure and overall process improvement built throughout the organization to give these players a greater path to success. Moving from 60 wins to close to .500 is a sizeable jump, even with their 28-37 second-half run in ‘25.

But it can happen, as Shomon witnessed in Florida.

“They did a lot of really good work as far as preparation for games last year. The sentiment with the [White Sox] guys I talked to is ‘Yeah, I want to be challenged. I want to make the games as easy as I can,’ although it’s not easy,” said Shomon, who has talked with six or seven White Sox hitters to date. “‘I want to prepare in a way that’s going to put me in a spot when I haven’t faced that for the first time once I get in the game.’

“You have a runway, and the organization believes that you are the guy, and this is the route we want to go to support you. These are the areas we feel like we can continue to improve to bring out the best version of you as a player. Those are the similarities there with Miami. That’s a big piece of what made it exciting.”