Pedro Grifol set to leave Kansas City Royals to manage division-rival Chicago White Sox
The Kansas City Royals passed over Pedro Grifol in a second consecutive managerial search when they named Matt Quatraro as their new manager, but the Chicago White Sox have reportedly chosen the Royals’ bench coach as their next manager, putting Grifol at the helm of the Royals’ AL Central Division rivals.
Grifol, 52, is expected to be named the White Sox manager this week, replacing retired Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. La Russa retired due to health concerns.
Major League Baseball typically restrictions official announcements during the World Series to off days or after the conclusion of the series, so it’s unclear when the White Sox might make the hiring official.
Grifol interviewed for the White Sox job as well as the Miami Marlins managerial opening last month. The Marlins announced they’d hired Skip Schumacher on October 25.
In recent years, Grifol had also been a candidate for managerial positions with the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers.
Grifol interviewed for the Royals job in 2019 after Ned Yost retired. The Royals hired Mike Matheny at that time, and Grifol served as Matheny’s bench coach from 2020-22. He also held the role of major-league catching coach and worked closely with franchise cornerstone Salvador Perez.
Grifol again interviewed for the position last month after executive vice president and general manager J.J. Picollo fired Matheny, but the club announced Quatraro’s hiring on Sunday evening.
The White Sox went 81-81 this season after having been a preseason favorite to win the AL Central and one of the favorites in the AL behind the New York Yankees and Houston Astros.
The White Sox roster features All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson and All-Star closer Liam Hendriks. White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease was a Cy Young Award candidate this year.
The White Sox will face some significant decisions this offseason with former MVP Jose Abreu a free agent.
Grifol, who is bilingual and a Cuban-American, has spent the past 10 years in the Royals organization.
A former catcher who made it to Triple-A and spent nine seasons in the minors with the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets organizations.
Following his playing days, Grifol worked as an area scout and then as a minor-league manager with the Mariners from 2000-05.
After that, he was Seattle’s minor-league field coordinator from 2006-08 and minor-league director of operations from 2008-11. Midway through 2010, Grifol also served as a major-league coach for the Mariners. He managed their Single-A affiliate High Desert in 2012.
Grifol started with the Royals as a coach in their farm system, first as a hitting coach at the rookie-ball level in 2013. Then the Royals elevated him to a special assignment coach for the major-league staff in late May and hitting coach in late July.
He became the Royals’ catching coach in 2014 and added quality control coach to his title in 2018. As the quality control coach, he served as a primary conduit between Yost and the coaching staff and the analytics and data generated by the research and development department.
Grifol spent the past three years as KC’s bench coach under Matheny, and also served as the major-league catching coach and worked closely with franchise cornerstone Salvador Perez.
Grifol also managed three years of winter ball in Venezuela, including one trip to the finals, and he also managed winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 11:27 AM.
