Former White Sox Pitching Coach Ethan Katz Lands New MLB Job

Former Chicago White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz has landed a new job in Major League Baseball, joining the Colorado Rockies as their pitching coach for the 2027 season.

Katz first joined the White Sox coaching staff prior to the 2021 season, replacing longtime pitching coach Don Cooper and joining Tony La Russa's staff. He served as Chicago's pitching coach for five seasons, developing a reputation for working with young pitchers and helping several of them reach their potential under his tutelage.

In 2021, working with Katz, Carlos Rodón finally discovered his All-Star form and put all of his talent together, going 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA and throwing a no-hitter as the White Sox won the AL Central.

In 2022, Dylan Cease was the breakout star. He finished as the runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award, going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA and recording 227 strikeouts.

Katz was also alongside Garrett Crochet as he transitioned from the bullpen into a starting pitching role in 2024, made the AL All-Star team and raised his value before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in a franchise-altering deal for Chicago.

And, of course, there's Lucas Giolito. Giolito had a longstanding relationship with Katz dating all the way back to high school. Katz was the pitching coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in North Hollywood, California, from 2009 to 2013 and worked with players like Giolito, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty during that stretch.

When Giolito made mechanical adjustments ahead of his breakout 2019 season, he was consulting Katz, and the former White Sox All-Star starting pitcher gave him a huge recommendation before the organization hired him.

Following the 2025 season, though, it only made sense for the White Sox to move on. The pitching staff hadn't been producing consistent results and finished 2025 with a 4.27 team ERA, which ranked 20th in Major League Baseball, and a 1.36 WHIP, which was tied for 25th. It was the third consecutive season in which Chicago had ranked in the bottom 10 in team ERA.

Better yet, the White Sox also needed a coaching staff that was built in Will Venable's image. Katz was hired under the Tony La Russa regime. He survived Pedro Grifol and even stuck around for one year under Venable. But going into 2026, the White Sox gave Venable the opportunity to build his own coaching staff, bring in his own guys and choose his pitching coach rather than keep the one he inherited.

Venable and GM Chris Getz worked together to build a coaching staff around their long-term player development goals. The White Sox ultimately settled on Zach Bove, who had spent three seasons as an assistant pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals, where he was also the director of pitching strategy.

Katz, meanwhile, took a job with the Houston Astros for the 2026 season.

While I do believe the White Sox made the right call, I also think this is a hire that the Rockies will be extremely happy with. It's difficult to pitch in Colorado, and the key to that organization unlocking its potential rests in its ability to get the most out of the pitchers on the roster. Ethan Katz can help them do that. And I think White Sox fans everywhere are happy to see him get another job that he's very much deserving of.