White Sox Coach Gets Hired Away by St. Louis Cardinals

The Chicago White Sox have lost a member of their coaching staff. While the organization intended to bring back the same staff from 2026, you can't control when better opportunities come about elsewhere.

Joel McKeithan, who served as an assistant hitting coach with the White Sox for two seasons and was a big part of the club's drastic turnaround in 2026, has been hired as the new hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis reportedly explored several external candidates as well as internal options before ultimately settling on McKeithan.

Prior to working hand in hand with Derek Shomon and White Sox hitters, McKeithan was also with the Cincinnati Reds. Before that, he got his start at Driveline Baseball.

It's really no wonder a coach like McKeithan was of interest to other teams. The White Sox were the talk of baseball in 2026 and had a turnaround that very few people expected. Your job as a coach is to put players in a position to succeed and maximize their potential. And when you look at the White Sox roster and where they ended up, it certainly feels like Chicago did that last year.

The White Sox were fifth in baseball in runs scored with 776, fifth in home runs with 211, and fourth in walks with 589. It was a young team that could slug and get on base. While the situational hitting was at times a work in progress, they showed the two fundamental skills necessary to succeed in modern baseball.

McKeithan should bring many of those philosophies over to the Cardinals with him.

I said the same thing when White Sox assistant GM Josh Barfield was being considered for the Houston Astros GM job, but this is part of being a well-run organization. As much as it may hurt to see a talented coach like McKeithan leave the organization, it's an overall positive for the White Sox because it's a sign that other teams are trying to replicate what already exists on the South Side.

The coaching culture and front office of the White Sox are now well respected across Major League Baseball, and other teams moving in the wrong direction are looking to White Sox coaches and executives for help. That's a sign that Chicago is doing things the right way.

McKeithan should have a great opportunity to work with some talented hitters such as Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker, and more in St. Louis. Meanwhile, the White Sox need to find a new assistant hitting coach.