CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox have hired former major-league manager Jerry Narron as a major-league instructor and also promoted James Kruk to head athletic trainer and Brett Walker to director of rehabilitation.

          Narron, 65, spent the 2020 season as the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox and has worked 26 seasons on major-league coaching staffs. He managed five seasons in the majors with Texas (2001-02) and Cincinnati (2005-07), served as a bench coach with Baltimore (1993), the Red Sox (2003, ’20), the Reds (2004-05), Milwaukee (2011-15) and Arizona (2017-19), and as a third-base coach for eight seasons with Baltimore (1994) and Texas (1995-2001).

          The Goldsboro, N.C. native has gone 291-341 (.460) as a manager in the majors. Narron, who began his professional coaching career as a manager in the Orioles organization from 1989-1992, also served as the third-base coach for Team Israel during the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifier round.

          Narron, a former major-league catcher, played parts of eight seasons with the Yankees (1979), Seattle (1980-81, ’87) and California (1983-86).

          Kruk, 37, served as assistant athletic trainer with the White Sox for the past two seasons. He enters his 13th season in the Sox organization, serving as head athletic trainer at Class AAA Charlotte (2018), Class AA Birmingham (2016-17), Class A Kannapolis (2014-15) and Advanced Rookie Great Falls (2009-13). Prior to joining the White Sox, Kurk spent two seasons as an athletic training intern in the Philadelphia Phillies system from 2007-08.

          Walker, 40, spent the last two seasons as the major league physical therapist/assistant athletic trainer for the White Sox. He originally joined the Sox organization for the 2014 season, serving as the minor-league physical therapist. Walker was promoted to the major-league staff in 2016, serving as the team’s physical therapist.