Welcome Ryan Fuller!! I got Three projects for you.

Josh Nelson with the initial “scoop” and DVS with the “official” position. Ryan Fuller, welcome to the White Sox!! I made an initial meme to warm up the #108ing audience on what they might expect from Fuller, but there is also plenty of videos outchea on YouTube for you to ingest at your leisure.

For the nerdier of yous, below is a video that will introduce Ryan, it’s an approximately 11 min presentation. The video discusses the broad strokes of a hitting coaches approach.

If that’s too long for you, here’s 6 minutes talking Orioles pre-game approach. Enjoy!!

I’ve watched like a dozen of these videos (YouTube search bar is your friend), it’s easy to see why the White Sox brass were interested in getting this guy in the door given their recent struggles at the plate. Vinnie Duber provides a little more color via Chris Getz as to what the role is expected to be below.

With it pretty clear that Ryan Fuller is going to have a hand in the entire side of the hitting function, on mlb roster coaching, broader minor league programs and acquisitions, I already have three (tree, this is Bridgeport) projects for him to get into as soon as his ass touches down at the Rate!

The FREE free agent

Let’s start with the freest of Free Agents. Miguel Sano. He’s 31, he’s big and fat. He still has elite bat speed and hits the ball furiously hard as evidenced by the chart below from his small time with the Angels in 2024, where his hard hit metrics line up nicely with the top end of the mashers in the big leagues.

In the immortal words of Indians manager Lou Brown in the 1989 classic “Major League”…”This guy hits a ton how come nobody else picked up on him?” It’s always the strike outs!

Well, not just the strikeouts, check out the Chase Contact %, the MLB row is how much contact the average MLB player makes on pitches they chase (57.8%) and the numbers directly above that are what Sano does. Ugh. Well, Ryan Fuller does promote good “swing decisions” and it would appear that Miguel, should he be able to correct a big chunk of his clearly bad ones, might have a lot of helium in his profile. Mind you, many, many people have tried to correct Sano here so it is a YMMV type situation. But on a White Sox team with no dedicated DH and coming off of the worst offensive season you, I or anybody else has seen, it could be worth a shot.

The Internal Candidate

George Wolkow has been shooting up White Sox team prospect rankings over the last twelve months which is both good and bad depending on how you look at it. He’s a big strapping, handsome young outfielder that turns 19 shortly after we ring in the New Year. The young man has light tower hitting power. Just one tiny, tiny problem for ole George. A minor defect if you will. STRIKEOUTS!

Ryan Fuller…your first assignment is to get with Boy George here and shrink them strikeouts to a reasonable rate. Get the BeefLoaf back in on what could be one of the most promising White Sox power hitting prospects in a minute!

The Trade Candidate

Alek Thomas is basically White Sox familia. His dad was with the org for a got-damned fortnight before he was recently dismissed from his job. Thomas had a brief streak of playoff excellence, sandwiched around a very, very disappointing hitting profile. He’s a centerfielder, but at this point in his Diamondbacks career has fallen well back of expectations. He hits the ball hard, exit velocities are good, he keeps the strikeouts down, so what could be the problem?? Below is a quick chart of his batted ball profile.

Oof! You gotta be Ichiro to make that many fuckin’ groundballs work. Ole Alek could really use some help lifting it up, so to speak. An old fashioned “PULL THE BALL IN THE AIR” project for Ryan Fuller.

I’m excited for what a Director of Hitting could bring to the White Sox, so I am jumping in with both feets’. I look forward to the first odd toy that the team acquires that looks clearly earmarked as a Ryan Fuller project. LFG!!

-BeefLoaf