(670 The Score) It didn’t take long for White Sox manager Tony La Russa to build trust with and gain confidence in first-year pitching coach Ethan Katz upon them both landing new jobs with the organization last offseason.
"I had heard about Ethan before I met him,” La Russa said. “The first time I met him during an interview for the job, within 10 minutes, he reminded me in his process of Dave Duncan (La Russa's longtime pitching coach). That is about the highest compliment I can give. Now having been with him, he is very much like Duncan. Ethan is very detail-oriented. He makes it designed for each individual pitcher. There is no cookie-cutter plan that is for the whole group. He has a great partnership with (bullpen coach) Curt Hasler. He has great use and knowledge of the equipment and numbers that were not around years ago.”
The combination of the White Sox’s superb pitching talent and Katz’s leadership has shown in the results. The White Sox’s 3.60 ERA is the fourth-best mark in MLB and leads the American League entering play Wednesday.
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For his part, the 38-year-old Katz has felt like the transition has been smooth. He was previously an assistant pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants, and he kept his mindset the same upon joining the White Sox.
"The first part of any communication is to listen to what the pitcher likes to do and respect the process that got them here,” Katz said. “Once the relationship begins to build and the time is right, I will share with them information I have for them. We then try to build a strong foundation for that.”
Katz coached White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito in high school, but his journey to Chicago was about much more than that. After the departure of longtime pitching coach Don Cooper, the White Sox were looking for a new voice who embraced the advances in technology in this era and had experience tailoring the knowledge gained from that to each player.
"The relationship with Lucas of course is special, but I have coached a lot of pitchers over the years that have made it to the big leagues,” Katz said. “People who would talk about me I guess would relate that I was always player-driven and my work ethic was directly based toward each individual unique to their strengths.
“A lot of how I offer to help is by painting the easiest picture possible for them in the sessions we have. My job is to help them find what their strengths are and to go through that process over and over again. That is no secret in helping people. The job is to let them know how good they are at pitching and convincing them to go to the areas that they are really good at over and over again.”
As for his relationship with the veteran La Russa, Katz has felt it has been an amazing partnership.
“It has been amazing working with Tony,” Katz said. “He is on top of everything. It's really quite remarkable to watch him work with everyone each day. Nothing gets by him, and every little detail is important to him and the process. He treats every single game like it’s a playoff game. I live and die with every pitch, and so does he. We seem to mesh perfectly.”
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.