Sizemore carves out unique role as White Sox offensive coordinator

WASHINGTON -- The one-liners and snappy repartee have been long ago delivered in regard to Grady Sizemore’s current offensive coordinator title for the White Sox, who couldn’t hold a four-run lead and dropped a 6-5 decision in a rain-soaked game on Saturday at Nationals Park.

Even Sizemore, the one-time All-Star outfielder for Cleveland who tormented the South Siders, joked of lining up his playsheet and covering his mouth so nobody could see what he was calling during a Spring Training conversation. Beyond the unique job description, Sizemore positively influences White Sox players in a variety of ways.

“The beauty of the past two years is I have had a lot of freedom to kind of make my own way and kind of put my hand in a little bit of everything,” Sizemore told MLB.com during a recent interview. “That hasn’t changed a whole lot this year. I tried to focus a lot more on the offensive side, but trying to help out any way I can -- baserunning, offense or even outfield.

“For me, it’s trying to be as much about building relationships with the players and trying to kind of push them, and harness our strengths and try to kind of work on our weaknesses. That’s been the focus, get these guys ready every day and identify what we do well and what we need to work on.”

After a miserable 28-89 start to 2024, following a dismal 61-101 showing in ‘23, Sizemore moved from Major League coach to replacing Pedro Grifol as manager in less than a calendar year. While the 13-32 record certainly wasn’t what Sizemore or the team wanted, he helped bring back energy, life and enjoyment to a beaten down squad during his interim stint.

Sizemore was in the running for the full-time managerial job eventually going to Will Venable, although Venable was excited to have Sizemore back as part of his inaugural staff. Without mentioning anyone by name, Venable indicated on Friday the future 2026 staffing decisions will be made quickly after this weekend comes to a close.

“We understand that if there's things that we're going to do, they deserve communication as soon as possible here,” Venable said. “Our process getting to some of those decisions still has to happen and will happen directly after the season, and then we'll communicate as soon as we can afterwards. It's not going to be weeks into the season that we have these talks and conversations. It will be immediate, but we just haven't done it yet.”

“I haven’t really thought much more past this season,” Sizemore said, when asked about the future a few weeks ago. “I’ve loved my time here. It’s been great. I’ve learned a lot. Building good relationships. I like my role. I feel like I’ve created something unique for myself. I just enjoy working with the guys and trying to be an asset in any way I can. Looking to do that moving forward.”

Things looked good for the White Sox early on Saturday, as Colson Montgomery launched his 21st home run to start a four-run fourth, followed by Brooks Baldwin's two-run shot. The Nationals rallied to win with three in the seventh, leaving Sean Burke with a no-decision despite a career-high 10 strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

Montgomery has hit that lofty home run total in just 70 games to go with 55 RBIs. The shortstop, who had three hits in defeat, and Burke are good friends and will be working out as part of their Nashville-based offseason baseball group by late October or early November.

“I've seen it for a couple of years now,” Burke said of Montgomery’s stunning rookie showing. “So, I mean, I know the kind of person he is and the kind of player he can be. I'm happy to see him putting everything together and putting consistent games together.

“Mentally, I'm a little bit more drained than I am physically right now, which I think is a good sign that the body held up well throughout the whole year,” Burke added of his own work, finishing with 133 strikeouts over 134 1/3 innings beginning with the team’s Opening Day start. “Going to the next year, it's like, I've been through this for the first time. So hopefully by the end of the year next year, I'm feeling just as fresh.”

The White Sox and Nationals have combined for 197 losses, with 102 coming from Chicago, which will go for win No. 60 in Sunday’s finale.

“We’ll come into next year with a good gameplan of what we need to work on in spring, what the focus will be,” Sizemore said. “We’ve used this year to find those holes and next year will be about getting better and filling the gaps.”