On Thursday the White Sox announced Paul Janish as their next Director of Player Development. Janish will replace Chris Getz, who was promoted to the team’s senior vice president and general manager after Rick Hahn was fired in August.
Janish has spent the past two seasons as the head baseball coach for Rice University. The Owls are coming off a 21-37 season under Janish who owns a 38-76 record as the associate head coach. He was initially hired by the Owls in 2017 to be the team’s assistant coach. During his tenure at Rice, Janish has helped 14 players get drafted in the MLB’s first-year player draft. Five of those 14 were selected inside the top ten rounds.
The Cypress Texas native has 13 years of experience in professional baseball. Janish is a former infielder who spent nine seasons in the MLB with the Reds, Orioles, and Braves. He owned a career .212/.280/.284 slash line with seven home runs and 87 RBIs. While the offensive numbers aren’t that impressive, his defense was what kept him in the show for nearly a decade. In 2009 Janish posted a +11 DRS and finished his career with a .984 fielding percentage.
The bulk of his career came in Cincinnati, where he played in 324 games. Janish then played in 107 games in two seasons in Atlanta before finishing his career in Baltimore where he appeared in just 42 games. His prior MLB experience and six years at Rice was one of the things that drew Getz to Janish.
“Paul brings a wealth of experience to our organization,” Getz said in the team’s press release. “He has lived every step of the ladder, from being a National Champion player at Rice to being drafted, reaching the majors and then coaching successfully at a high-level program like Rice. We are pleased to have him take the next step in his career with the White Sox and welcome him into the organization to lead our development system.”
The Janish hire comes, at a critical time for some of the White Sox prospects.
The White Sox currently have the 20th-ranked farm system in the MLB. Under Getz, the system fell from No. 1 in 2017 to No. 30 just four years later. However, Janish will be inheriting some talented prospects. Colson Montgomery and Noah Shultz are trying to continue their upward trajectory. Trade deadline acquisitions Jake Eder and Nick Nastrini are trying to carve out a spot in the White Sox rotation and first-round pick Jacob Gonzalez is still getting his feet wet in pro-ball.
Janish’s path from a college baseball coach to Director of Player Development is an unconventional one. But Getz is trying to overhaul the White Sox player development system which is looking to buck the stigma that they can’t develop in-house talent. Hiring the 41-year-old Janish marks an important first step.
