A former White Sox hitting coach has landed a new job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to MLB insider Francys Romero, the Dodgers rehired Mike Tosar as a scout.
Tosar was hired to replace White Sox hitting coach Frank Menechino after a disastrous 2022 season that saw a White Sox team favored to win the division finish in the bottom half of the league in runs scored.
Tosar was hand-picked by Pedro Griol after the two spent time together in the Royals organization. The Royals tried to retain Tosar as their Special Assignment hitting coach in 2023 staff before he followed the newly hired Grifol to Chicago. At the time he seemed like a good addition to the White Sox staff.
Tosar initially joined the Royals in 2020. Before that, he was an International Scout and Special Assignment Hitting Coach with the Dodgers from 2012-19. He's also worked with the Mariners, Twins, Marlins, and Rays organizations. Romero reports that while he was with the Dodgers he played a key role in discovering Yordon Alveraz, Andy Pages, and Miguel Vargas, who was traded to the White Sox last season in a package deal for Michael Kopech.
Tosar grew up playing alongside Grifol as a youth in Miami. He was drafted straight out of high school in the round of the 1987 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. However, he opted to attend college at the University of Miami instead. He began playing pro ball in 1991 with the New York Mets Gulf League team. His playing career didn't last long. In three minor league seasons, he batted .237 with just 37 RBIs and no home runs.
After he decided to hang up his cleats, he took a job as a coach of the Gulf Coast League Tampa Bay Devil Ray in 1997. While there, he worked with future All-Stars Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford.
After two seasons, he moved to the Florida Marlins organization in 2000 to become a scout. He returned to a coaching role in 2003 as a hitting coach with the Minnesota Twins organization. After three seasons, he took his talents to Seattle for a duel job as the single-A hitting coach and scout for the Mariners. He was promoted to the team's outfield and base running coordinator in 2008 and then again in 2009 to the lower-level hitting coordinator. He remained the team's lower-level hitting coordinator until 2012.
Tosar was credited with helping the development of multiple big names on the Royals. Mike Moustakas selected him to throw to him during the 2017 Home Run Derby.
Unfortunately for Tosar, his brief tenure with the White Sox was mired with poor results. In 2023 the team had the worst on-base percentage in baseball while ranking 29th in the MLB in runs scored, 25th in batting average, and 20th in home runs. The following season the White Sox got off and fell to 28-91 before White Sox fell to 28-91 before Grifol, Tosar, bench coach Charlie Montoyo, and third base coach Eddie Rodriguez were fired.
