Sergio Santos always dreamed of playing in the major leagues.

He reached that goal in 2010, pitching for the Chicago White Sox. When his playing career — which included 194 relief appearances during six big-league seasons with the Sox (2010-11), Toronto Blue Jays (2012-14), Los Angeles Dodgers (2015) and New York Yankees (2015) — came to and end, Santos spent a couple of years as a stay-at-home dad and then worked at an MLB youth academy.

A little later, an opportunity arrived to join the Yankees system.

“My biggest fear was like, ‘Man, I did this grind for 15, 16 years and am I really going to want to sit through games again as a manager?’ ” Santos said during a video conference call Friday. “And within a couple of days, I knew this is exactly what I was built for.

“The way my career kind of happened from shortstop to converted pitcher, it makes a whole lot of sense as a manager because I’m able to relate to every single person in that dugout because I’ve been in that position.”

After two seasons managing in the Yankees organization — including 2023 for Class A Hudson Valley — Santos will bring that knowledge back to the Sox as the skipper of the team’s Double-A affiliate Birmingham.

“Anyone who knows Sergio knows he brings a lot of energy to the table, which I think is always welcomed,” director of player development Paul Janish said. “I’m excited for him. I know he’s excited to be back in an organization that he has some affection for because of having played here.”

Santos had a 3.29 ERA and 31 saves in 119 games with the Sox. He said he had “nothing but the fondest memories of Chicago, the fans.”

“In the back of my mind, there was always a hope I could get back with the White Sox,” Santos said.

The Sox announced the addition of Santos on Friday, along with their entire 2024 player development staff and assignments. Janish, hired in November, is in his first year overseeing the organization’s minor-league operations and player development system.

“The overall mission statement is trying to accumulate as many good people as we can that are into making the players better over the course of time,” Janish said.

Santos joins Justin Jirschele (Triple-A Charlotte), Guillermo Quiroz (Class A Winston-Salem), Patrick Leyland (Class A Kannapolis) and Danny González (Arizona Complex League Sox) as managers in the team’s minor-league system. Jirschele, Quiroz, Leyland and González each return to their managerial posts from last season.

Winston-Salem’s staff includes bench coach Darius Day, a Simeon graduate who was a member of the Chicago White Sox Amateur City Elite (ACE) program.

“Being in that culture and being around those guys that kind of helped drive the passion of the game of baseball for me was something I admired for a very long time,” Day said.

Day appeared in 169 minor-league games mostly as an outfielder after being selected by the Texas Rangers in the 23rd round of the 2014 draft. He returned to the area with the ACE program and is set to make his professional coaching debut.

“It was very clear very quickly his passion for helping players,” Janish said.

Day is most looking forward to “getting back to the grind” in the role with the Dash.

“Just getting back to that structure, that everyday grind, everyday process of helping guys and trying to figure out what makes them go,” Day said.

“Being in the system now, it’s kind of surreal for me. I never thought I would be in this position, let alone in a jersey or uniform again. I’m just excited about the opportunity to be part of it.”

Here’s the full list of Friday’s announcement.

Player development staff

Director of Player Development: Paul Janish
Director of Minor League Administration: Kathy Potoski
Assistant Director, Baseball Operations: Graham Harboe
Manager, Player Development/International Operations: Grant Flick
Assistant, Player Development/Video: Jack Larimer
Manager, Player Development Latin America Operations: Louis Silverio
Manager, International Player Development/Education: Erin Santana

Player development instructors/rovers

Field Coordinator: Doug Sisson
Assistant Field Coordinator: Justin Jirschele
Pitching Coordinator: Matt Zaleski
Assistant Pitching Coordinator: Curt Hasler
Assistant Pitching Coordinator: Donnie Veal
Pitching Advisor: J.R. Perdew
Hitting Coordinator: Alan Zinter
Assistant Hitting Coordinator: Danny Santin
Infield Coordinator: Ryan Newman
Catching Coordinator: Julio Mosquera
Assistant Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator: Mike Daniel
Rehab Pitching Coach: Hiram Burgos
Hitting Initiatives: Devin DeYoung
Biomechanist: Jason Hashimoto

Medical staff

Medical Coordinator: Scott Takao
Physical Therapy Coordinator: Brooks Klein
Performance Coordinator: Gage Crosgrove
Assistant Performance Coordinator: Sergio Rojas
Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer: Katie Stone
Physical Therapist: Evan Jurjevic
Sports Psychologist: Dr. Rob Seifer

Arizona operations

Facility Manager: Joe Lachcik
Minor League Clubhouse Manager: Dan Flood
Assistant Minor League Clubhouse Manager: Bryant Biasotti

Triple-A Charlotte

Manager: Justin Jirschele
Pitching Coach: R.C. Lichtenstein
Hitting Coach: Cam Seitzer
Bench Coach: Pat Listach
Trainer: Hyeon Kim
Performance Coach: George Timke

Double-A Birmingham

Manager: Sergio Santos
Pitching Coach: John Ely
Hitting Coach: Nicky Delmonico
Bench Coach: Ángel Rosario
Trainer: Carson Wooten
Performance Coach: Juan Maldonado

Class A Winston-Salem

Manager: Guillermo Quiroz
Pitching Coach: John Kovalik
Hitting Coach: Jim Rickon
Bench Coach: Darius Day
Trainer: A.J. Smith
Performance Coach: Logan Jones

Class A Kannapolis

Manager: Patrick Leyland
Pitching Coach: Blake Hickman
Hitting Coach: Charlie Romero
Bench Coach: Daniel Milwee
Trainer: Chaerin Yeom
Performance Coach: Donovan Clark

Arizona Complex League White Sox

Manager: Daniel González
Pitching Coach: Jacob Dorris
Hitting Coach: Gerardo Olivares
Assistant Hitting Coach: Mike Gellinger
Development Coach: Nausel Cabrera
Trainer: Jeremy Kneebusch
Performance: Siera Weathers

Dominican Republic Academy/DSL White Sox

Field Coordinator: Julio Bruno
Manager, Complex Operations: Wellington Morrobel
Manager, Administration: Carolina Santos
Manager: Anthony Núñez
Pitching Coach: José Brito
Assistant Pitching Coach: Stolmy Pimentel
Infield Coach: Guillermo Reyes
Assistant Hitting Coach/Catching Coach: Moisés Núñez
Coach: Ángel González
Trainer: Gustavo De La Cruz
Assistant Trainer: Estarlin Rosario
Performance Coach: Fran Batista
Assistant Performance Coach: Carlos Javier
Video Coordinator: Miguel Perez
Lead Educator: Pablo Frías
Education Assistant: Luis Villar

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Following a lopsided loss in Minnesota a few weeks ago, Michigan’s season was on the brink of an early exit. The solution was simple: they needed wins.

Flash forward 15 days and the Wolverines are close to a lock for an NCAA tournament invite after winning their fourth in a row, quieting a raucous Minnesota crowd with a 2-1 road victory.

Michigan, seeking its third consecutive playoff crown, will face regular season champ Michigan State next weekend in the Big Ten tournament title game, which will be played in the Spartans’ home rink on Saturday.

Kienan Draper scored early in the first period and Gavin Brindley scored late in the second, as Michigan took control from the get-go. The Wolverines (21-13-3) got 30 saves from Jake Barczewski to all but cement their spot in the 16-team NCAA tournament field.

Minnesota, which was playing its final home game of the season, will now have a week off and will take a 22-10-5 record into the NCAA tournament. The Gophers got 22 saves from Justen Close, but could not solve Barczewski until Jimmy Snuggerud’s extra-attacker goal with 89 seconds left in regulation.

After Michigan survived an early push by the Gophers and Draper gave the visitors a lead, popping in the rebound of a Chase Pletzke shot, it looked briefly like the Wolverines had doubled the lead. Luca Fantilli took a pass from behind the net and beat Close with a shot from the top of the crease. But Minnesota challenged the play, and replay showed the Wolverines offside entering the zone, so the goal was negated.

Michigan thoroughly dominated the middle frame, out-shooting the Gophers 17-5, getting the game’s first power play, and doubling the lead. With less than 90 seconds left in the period, Garrett Schifsky hit Brindley with a long lead pass and Brindley turned it into his team-leading 24th goal of the season.

It was the third consecutive season in which Michigan has come to Minneapolis and won a playoff game. In 2022 and 2023 the Wolverines won at Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament’s finale.

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The Minnesota Wild h kept themselves alive in the Western Conference playoff race with some spirited play late in the season, going 6-0-1 since March 3, and 12-4-2 since Feb. 7.

But two of those four losses came in road games against teams in direct competition for a wild card playoff spot, losses to the Predators and Blues, and coach John Hynes was looking for a better effort from his team on Saturday night in St. Louis.
“This isn’t 1 of 82,” he told reporters at Enterprise Center before the game. “This is a game where both teams know what’s at stake.”

It wasn’t perfect on Saturday, but it was better.

Marco Rossi and Kirill Kaprizov scored third-period goals as the Wild rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to earn a point in a 3-2 shootout loss that pulled them within three points of idle Vegas for the second wild card spot in the West.

Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn each scored goals in regulation and the shootout Jordan Binnington stopped 22 shots in regulation and allowed only Matt Boldy’s goal in the shootout as the Blues pulled within a point of ninth-place Minnesota.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who starting for the fourth consecutive game, stopped 35 of 37 shots in regulation.

The Wild have won some big head-to-head matchups lately, too, shellacking the Kraken in Seattle and beating the Predators last week at Xcel Energy Center. But when they get close to that last wild card spot, they tend to struggle — especially on the road.
And they did again for two periods against the Blues, who were trying to pull even with the Wild in the conference standings.

The Wild failed to generate much offensive zone time and gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, one of which ended in Schenn’s goal just 27 seconds into the third period, which gave the Blues a 2-0 lead. Schenn skated unmolested from the red line into the left circle before he fired a snapshot that beat Fleury high glove side.

But Rossi pulled the Wild within 2-1 just 44 seconds later after what looked like an apparent turnover in the offensive zone was retrieved by Kirill Kaprizov. Rossi found himself with a 2 on 1 with Mats Zuccarello, but too close to do much but shoot. He found a small opening when he caromed a puck off Binnington’s right pad at 1:12.

Kaprizov scored off a face off play with 3:59 remaining when a centering pass from Mats Zuccarello hit his right skate and deflected it past Binnington. They nearly tied it earlier in the period when Brock Faber passed on target from behind his own blue line to a streaking Matt Boldy for a 1-on-1 chance. But Binnington was able to squeeze Boldy’s point-blank wrist shot between his arm and body.

Eric Ramsay’s debut as Minnesota United head coach got off to a perfect start at Allianz Field on Saturday.

Robin Lod scored in the first half, Bongi Hlongwane scored in the second and the Loons produced their first clean sheet of the season in a 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC.

Ramsay earned his first win in his first match on the sideline, and MNUFC (3-0-1, 10 points) remained undefeated through for games.

LAFC (1-2-1, 4 points) was the MLS Cup runner-up last season, but haven’t been able to rekindle last year’s pace.

The Loons took a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. A Sang Bin Jeong free kick from 33 yards was not properly cleared by LAFC and the ball fell to Lod at the edge of the 6-yard box for an easy finish past Hugo Lloris.

Hlongwane pounced on a bad backward pass from Eddie Segura and slotted a shot past Lloris in the 88th minute.

LAFC was targeting its attack down the Loons’ left flank with Devin Padelford making his first MLS start. The 21-year-old Maplewood native had some uncertain moments and Ramsay appeared to giver him a “settle down” gesture during the first half.

LAFC attacker Denis Bouanga won the MLS golden boot with 20 goals last season. The Loons kept him with a goal to his name.

Ramsay was asked about Bouanga and LAFC’s attackers on Friday, and he said his defensive principles are broader than individual players.

“We want to be a team that is very compact and very together irrespective of how the opposition play and who the opposition players are,” Ramsay said. “That is a principle the team needs to be able to execute week in and week out.

Ramsay added it will be a standard he will “take to my grave.”

Ramsay’s new era received a special welcome from Supporters in The Wonderwall. They made a black and blue tifo for the Welshman and in the center was a creature that was part red Welsh dragon with Loons wings.

Before Ramsay’s debut, his predecessor, Adrian Heath, appeared own the Apple TV preview show. Heath, who was fired last October after nearly seven full seasons, was complementary of the Loons.

Heath said interim head coach Cameron Knowles did an “incredible job” in difficult circumstances and that Ramsay has been ‘immersed in the game” with quality experience at Manchester United and the Welsh national team.

But the 63-year-old Heath knows this role will be different for the 32-year-old Ramsay.

“One thing he will know is now its a big, big difference when you become the head man every decision, everything you say has a consequence.”

Ramsay was treated to the biggest Loons ritual, the singing of “Wonderwall.”

Ramsey said Friday he is a fan of the band Oasis and has history with “Wonderwall.” When his Loughborough University team won a British championship in 2013, they played the English band’s hit in celebration.

“That was sung after (the win),” he said Friday. And, as the night went on 10 more times.”

That song might be on repeat Saturday night as well.

Briefly

In the second half, Emanuel Reynoso made his 2024 debut after a preseason knee injury. He came on in the 60th minute and immediately showed his skill on the ball. … Ramsay didn’t make any voluntary changes to his first starting  XI and had only one forced change: Maplewood native Devin Padelford made his first MLS start at left back for Joseph Rosales (red card). … Six Loons players will head out on international duty after Saturday’s game: Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod (Finland), Michael Boxall (New Zealand), Dayne St. Clair (Canada), Rosales (Honduras) and Alejandro Bran (Costa Rica). MNUFC does not have an MLS game during the FIFA break, returning to play at Philadelphia Union on March 30. … Incoming assistant coach Dennis Lawrence received a warm send off from Coventry City after the English club beat Wolverhampton in the FA Cup on Saturday. The club is hopeful Lawrence can travel to Minnesota this upcoming week. …

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