Chris Getz Promoted To GM From Within To 'Re-Energize' White Sox

CHICAGO — A week after the Chicago White Sox cleaned house in their front office by firing general manager Rick Hahn and Executive Vice President Ken Williams, the team elected to stay in-house by promoting Chris Getz to oversee the team’s baseball operations.

The 40-year-old Winnetka resident was announced as the team’s new general manager and executive vice president by the Sox on Thursday. His hiring comes amid a disappointing season in which the Sox have struggled throughout the year under first-year manager Pedro Grifol. The team announced last week that Hahn and Williams, both of whom had been criticized heavily for the team’s performance, were fired.

Getz was promoted to assistant general manager in 2021 after being initially hired in 2016 as the team’s director of player development. In a statement issued by the team on Thursday, owner and team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf cited Getz’s familiarity with the team’s roster as one of the main reasons for the promotion.

“Chris has impressed me greatly over the past seven years. In our conversations together this season, I have become energized by his vision, approach and sense of what this organization needs to become competitive again,” Reinsdorf said. “With his existing knowledge of the organization, top to bottom, I believe his leadership will provide us with the quickest path forward to our goal, a consistently successful baseball team that competes and plays the game the right way. He will re-energize this organization.”

The Michigan native and graduate of the University of Michigan, Getz was selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft and was the Sox starting second baseman in 2019. He retired as a player in 2014 after spending that season with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He is married with three children.

“I am honored and humbled to be given this leadership responsibility,” Getz said in a statement issued by the team. “I understand what this team means to White Sox fans, and I am excited to begin the work today and during the remainder of this season.

“There is a great deal of talent within this clubhouse and within this ballpark, and we are going to diligently begin to do the work and lay the foundation for an organization and a team we all take pride in, from the staff, to the players, to our fans.”

Getz was scheduled to be formally introduced at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.