CHICAGO -- There probably aren’t too many Major League Baseball pitching coaches who include two stints as a hitting coach on their résumé.
But that seemingly unique quality belongs to Zach Bove, who was named the new White Sox pitching coach on Tuesday. Bove joins manager Will Venable’s coaching staff -- which includes Matt Wise, returning for his third season as the White Sox bullpen coach.
Bove, 37, worked as a hitting coach at the high school level and then for the College of Central Florida in 2012-13 before moving to mound work.
“Starting out, I couldn't just fall back on, ‘Well, this is what I did as a pitcher,’” said Bove during a Zoom call. “I just had to search for the best way to go about it. I was totally open. That's kind of right around the time when all this information was coming, you know, Twitter and the Drivelines and all that stuff.
“So, just really open, talked to a lot of people in the game, used my playing experience as a way to like, ‘Ok, this is what I struggled with as a hitter,’ so maybe there's value in kind of educating our pitchers on that. I tried to use all resources available to make -- at the end of the day it's still the goal to make the pitchers better and just create an environment that is conducive to their own development and always open to a better way of going about it."
Over the past three seasons, Bove served as an assistant pitching coach for the Royals, who ranked sixth in the Majors with a 3.73 ERA while allowing the eighth-fewest home runs (171). He also worked with left-hander Noah Cameron, one of the best rookie hurlers in the game, which should bode well with the young staff possessed by the rebuilding White Sox.
Left-handers Noah Schultz, the No. 2 White Sox prospect and No. 40 overall, per MLB Pipeline, and Hagen Smith, who ranks No. 5 for the White Sox and No. 88 overall, should be in the Majors at some point during the 2026 season, as youthful examples. Bove replaces Ethan Katz, one of four coaches from the ‘25 staff whose contracts were not renewed at the end of the season, as the White Sox look for greater improvement, greater development from within their core.
“We're excited to bring in Zach,” said White Sox general manager Chris Getz. “It was an exhaustive process, a long list of candidates and what we learned early on is the intelligence and character, you look at his résumé, what he's accomplished at every step of the way.
“His reputation throughout the league is very strong. The synergy was another thing that stood out between [director of pitching] Brian Bannister, Will, the coaching staff. We just feel like he's a great fit.”
Derek Shomon, who previously served as the Marlins' assistant hitting coach, will become the next White Sox hitting coach as confirmed by a baseball source Tuesday. The White Sox did not announce the Chicago-area native, adding on their press release that additional staff hires will follow.
Tuesday’s news focused on Bove, the one-time first baseman at Central Florida and Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., before moving into coaching and pitching.
“[I] started my coaching career at College of Central Florida, where I played for Marty Smith and was the hitting coach for the first two years,” said Bove, who spent from 2019-22 with the Twins before joining the Royals. “After the second year, kind of let go of the pitching coach and Marty's the one that said, 'Hey, you're going to take over the pitching.'
“At the time, I did not want to do it, but he said, 'You're gonna be really good,' a lot of trust in me. So just a lot of learning along the way, a lot of people helped me get here, a lot of support throughout the years. But I kind of have maybe a different take on the pitching realm just because of my background and kind of what led me to where I am."