Recapping Grifol’s introductory press conference as White Sox manager

Today, the White Sox made their hiring of Pedro Grifol official, making him the 42nd unique manager in team history.

Just after 11:00 a.m. CT, the White Sox hosted a press conference for Grifol, in which both Rick Hahn and Grifol were made available to answer media questions. Below, you will be able to find the full interview to watch at your convenience. However, we have also pulled out some of the key quotes and talking points from the press conference.

In the nearly 40 minutes, Hahn and Grifol talked about the interview process, the roster for next year, Grifol’s managerial ideologies, and much more!

The Press Release

CHICAGO – Pedro Grifol (“grif-FOAL”), a member of two American League pennant-winning and a World Series championship staff with the Kansas City Royals, has been named the 42nd different manager in White Sox history. Grifol, 52, has agreed to terms on a multiyear contract. 

Grifol joins the White Sox after a 10-year stint in Kansas City (2013-22), including the last three as the Royals bench coach. He becomes the fourth current Latino manager in Major League Baseball, joining Boston’s Alex Cora, St. Louis’ Oliver Marmol, and Washington’s Dave Martinez. 

During his time as the Royals’ catching coach, Salvador Pérez was selected to start five straight All-Star Games (2014-18), was named a Rawlings Gold Glove winner four times (2014-16, ‘18) and a Louisville Silver Slugger award winner twice (2016, ‘18). 

“Pedro is a bilingual, modern baseball thinker who brings two-plus decades of experience in a variety of roles – bench coach, hitting coach, winter ball and minor league manager, director of player development and scout,” said Rick Hahn, White Sox general manager/senior vice president. “He is an excellent communicator and an experienced game planner who brings a high energy and detail-oriented approach to leadership. He is committed to building an inclusive and cohesive clubhouse, and we could not be happier to have Pedro leading our club.” 

Prior to his three seasons as bench coach, Grifol’s roles with the Royals included quality control/catching coach (2018-19), catching coach (2014-17), special assignment/hitting coach (2013-14), and Arizona Rookie League Surprise hitting coach (2013). The Royals won back-to-back AL pennants in 2014-15, capturing the World Series championship in 2015 by defeating the New York Mets in five games after losing the Fall Classic to San Francisco in seven games in 2014. 

Grifol spent 13 seasons (2000-12) in the Seattle Mariners organization before joining the Royals. He served as manager at Class A High Desert in 2012, guiding the Mavericks to an 83-57 regular-season record and a berth in the California League playoffs. Grifol also worked as an area scout for south Florida and Puerto Rico (2000-05), manager for Advanced Rookie Everett (2003-05), Coordinator of Instruction (2006-08), Director of Minor League Operations (2008-11) and a Major League Coach (2010). 

The Interview Process

Hahn started the press conference with a lot of excitement regarding the hiring and the process that the team underwent before arriving on Grifol as the final choice.

Some key elements of the interview process that Rick Hahn made sure to call out include:

• He considered this an “Expansive search”
• The initial list of managerial candidates had 22-24 names on it; this grew up to 30
• The team selected eight names for first-round interviews from seven different organizations, including the White Sox
  • These interviews consisted of Daniel Zien (Director of Baseball Ops), Chris Getz (Assistant GM/Player Development), Jeremy Haber (Assistant GM), and Hahn
• From there, several candidates had conversations with Hahn and Kenny Williams prior to final round interview with Jerry Reinsdorf, Williams, and Hahn in Arizona

He did not make mention of any of the other finalists. However, given what we know, the first-round interviews may have been for Grifol (Royals), Matt Quatraro (Rays), Miguel Cairo (White Sox), Ron Washington (Braves), Carlos Mendoza (Yankees), Joe Espada (Astros), Kevin Long (Phillies), and Ozzie Guillen.

Eight candidates, seven organizations? It’s tough to know based on rumors alone.

“Pedro was the second of the eight we sat down to interview, and from about an hour into our conversation, it became very clear that the bar had been risen and the rest of the group we would be meeting with… would have a high standard to meet.”

– Rick Hahn

The rest of Grifol’s staff

Here is what Rick Hahn said about the rest of Grifol’s staff; he wasn’t able to say much yet, however:

• Ethan Katz and Curt Hasler will return in previous roles; Charlie Montoyo will be joining as bench coach
• The remainder of spots are open; some internal candidates will be considered, but the entire process will be gone through with Pedro Grifol leading the way
  • Many of the candidates are under contract with other clubs, so Hahn could not reveal much.
  • The open positions will mostly be filled with people from outside the organization

For fans who are continuing to look for outside perspectives to this organization, this should be a welcome sign.

Grifol did mention a few qualities that he considered important for his next coaching staff later in the press conference:

• Communication Skills
  • Bilingual, relational skills
  • Creativity – people who are willing to keep moving forward and attacking margins
• “The team that we will bring in for hitting will be well-versed in analytics” – Grifol

When asked about his managerial style, Grifol ideally wants his coaches to be “free and comfortable to teach and go out and do what they do best.”

Overall, it appears that the White Sox are still looking to finalize their staff. However, it also appears that this next coaching staff will be taking an important step forward into the future.

There was one interesting moment where Grifol was asked about the injuries last season on the South Side for the White Sox. As he started to go into some detail, he had the following exchange with Rick Hahn:

• PG: “Did you want to talk about the sports…”
• RH: “… we’re still working on that.”

In just that small aside, it appears some changing may be coming to the sports science/training staff side of things that White Sox fans should be on the lookout for.

Pedro Grifol’s Opening Comments

Grifol started his comments with a great story about the sacrifices his family made when he first decided to get back onto the field as a coach. He had spent some time in the front office but wasn’t enjoying it as much as being on the field. When he asked his family about the sacrifices of taking a pay cut to chase his dreams, he said they responded: “How in the world can you tell us to chase our dreams if you’re not chasing yours?” It was a really, really cool moment.

Grifol continued to thank quite a number of individuals, including Salvador Perez of the Royals, before telling White Sox fans what they can expect from what he considers an “extremely talented club on both sides of the ball”:

• “We will communicate”
• “We will be fundamentally sound”
• “We will play with passion and pride for this uniform. This means something.”
• “We will respect the game, our fans, and earn their trust”
• “We will control the strike zone on both sides of the ball…”
• “We will work hard and play winning baseball every night and definitely will hold each other accountable.”

A lot of great comments from Grifol, who very clearly was “winning the press conference” at this point while also appearing to be an incredibly humbled and genuine person:

• “If I’m the smartest guy in the room, we’ve got a problem”
• “All I’ve ever wanted to do is manage a baseball team”

Top Quotes from the Press Conference/Media Questions

Rick Hahn on Pedro Grifol:

• “We are taking a major step to putting ourselves back on track towards the trajectory we were on in previous seasons following last season’s disappointment.”
• “A renowned communicator and modern baseball mind who is seeking to build a cohesive and inclusive clubhouse environment and one where attention to detail and accountability will be priorities.”

Pedro Grifol on what the White Sox were missing last year:

“… if the energy was high, they [2022 White Sox] could beat anyone in the game. If the energy wasn’t, we [2022 Royals] were able to have some success against them. So, my job is going to be, and the staff’s job is going to be, to make sure that the energy is high every night and we are prepared to win ballgames.”

“It starts in Spring Training… the level of intensity to our practices, cage work… the details, attacking margins are going to be extremely critical in developing the culture and chemistry of this club…”

Pedro Grifol and Rick Hahn on the most pressing needs for the White Sox to fill:

“We’ve got to improve defensively obviously, and I feel that fundamentally, we have to improve. And, again, I go back to the intensity level and energy we have to bring to our preparation.”

“The preparation and energy is going to get us where we want to go.”

• NOTE: Grifol also mentioned that he and the front office haven’t gotten into the additions/subtractions side of things, but will plan to in the coming weeks

Pedro Grifol on Jose Abreu

Pedro Grifol on new bench coach Charlie Montoyo

“We’ve spoken a few times, but I have so much respect for him and what he’s done in the game.”

• Note: Rick Hahn described the process that brought Montoyo to the White Sox as “collaborative” between Grifol and the front office. He mentioned that there were “multiple other teams” pursuing Montoyo.

Rick Hahn on what the White Sox learned from their interview process

“You heard sort of that dichotomy between who we were in 2019, 2021, and part of 2021 to who we became in the latter half of 2021 and 2022.”

“It became evident that there was a number of things in terms of internal pre-game processes and how we go about our business that needed to be tightened up.”

Pedro Grifol on Analytics

“Analytics is a big part of the game. I’m well-versed in analytics, and that’s going to set the foundation of how to navigate a baseball game.”

“Analytics is a big part of this things, and it’s going to lay the foundation for how we approach a pitcher or team on a given night… however, these are human, not robots, and things change and we’ve got to be able to make adjustments.”

“… I feel like we’ll have a good base on what we need to do in any given situation in a game, whether it’s analytically or dealing with the human element.”

Rick Hahn on roster changes to come moving forward:

“I think we view this as still a championship-caliber core… obviously we had significant regression across the board… job 1 is figuring out which of those [regressions] are correctable.”

“We don’t view this as drastic, wholesale changes on the horizon. We need to get these guys back to the level they’re capable of playing at… There’s an analytical part of that… there’s a health element and how we can project a player’s health and availability.”

“We had a few guys playing out of position last year… we want to avoid that heading into next year.”

Pedro Grifol’s Offensive Vision

Final Thoughts

Overall, none of us really know how this is going to work out. However, in terms of “winning the press conference,” Grifol certainly did that today.

Grifol was impressive in terms of his overall confidence in analytics and how they would play a role on this staff. He is the blend of analytically driven with a “feel” for the game that most White Sox fans were hoping for in their next manager. He also hit on all of the major points that fans felt were missing from the 2022 White Sox: energy, effort, intensity, and accountability. In many ways, this entire press conference felt like a condemnation of the past two seasons on the South Side, which fans would like to be quick to forget. He was well-spoken, professional, clearly qualified, and humble in his responses. It was a pleasure to listen to him.

Rick Hahn started with an air of energy that was missing when he introduced Tony La Russa back before the 2021 season – this is something that it appeared most Sox fans picked up on. He appeared excited about the managerial process that led to this point and the new ideas and vision that Grifol will bring to the White Sox. It appears the two have a good working relationship with some things already in motion.

All said, though, the next two big areas to keep an eye on are the completion of the coaching staff and what the White Sox do with the roster heading into 2023. With a pivotal point in this contention window beginning this season, the White Sox will not be able to hang their hat on the good vibes their new manager gave off today forever. Actions will speak louder than words at the end of the offseason.

But it’s day one, and the words were pretty good today. It was a refreshing change of pace that fans needed.

You can view the full press conference on NBC Sports Chicago here.

Follow us @SoxOn35th for more!

Featured Image: White Sox / Twitter