Bobby Hearn, formally with the Minnesota Twins organization, will fill that role — one of five hirings the Sox announced Wednesday.
José Leger is the new first-base/outfield coach while Chris Denorfia joins as the major-league field coordinator, Bennett Markinson as a bullpen catcher and Tony Medina as a major-league assistant on second-year manager Will Venable’s staff.
Hearn, 29, and Sox All-Star pitcher Shane Smith were teammates at Wake Forest. He was an assistant pitching coordinator for the Twins in 2025 and served as a complex pitching coordinator for the organization in 2024. Hearn spent 2023 at Davidson College, working as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for pitching.
His coaching career began in the Twins organization as a Florida Complex League pitching coach from 2021-22. He joined Class A Cedar Rapids for the second half of the 2022 season and had a position on the Glendale Desert Dogs coaching staff in the 2022 Arizona Fall League.
Denorfia, 45, and Venable were teammates with the San Diego Padres from 2010-14. Denorfia played 10 seasons in the major leagues, slashing .272/.330/.392 with 103 doubles, 41 home runs, 196 RBIs and 289 runs in 808 games with the Cincinnati Reds (2005-06), Oakland Athletics (2007-08), Padres (2010-14), Seattle Mariners (2014) and Chicago Cubs (2015).
He spent the last five seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization, with whom he was the outfield and baserunning coordinator from 2024-25 after managing Double-A Hartford from 2021-23. He was in line to manage Hartford in 2020 before the cancellation of the minor-league season because of the pandemic.
Denorfia spent 2018 as a special assistant to the president/general manager with the Cubs and joined their major-league staff in 2019 as the quality assurance coach.
Leger, 43, comes to the Sox after eight seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He was the assistant field and baserunning coordinator in 2025, Double-A Springfield manager from 2021-24 and Latin American field and academy development coordinator at the Dominican complex from 2018-20.
Before his time with the Cardinals, Leger managed at three levels in the New York Mets organization from 2010-17. He currently is managing Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League.
Medina, 32, spent the last four seasons with the Schaumburg Boomers. He was the hitting coach in 2022 and the baseball analytics coordinator from 2023-25.
Markinson, who turns 23 on Dec. 30, played at Northwestern from 2022-25. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a undrafted free agent but did not appear in a game before announcing his retirement in November.
Wednesday’s additions come after the Sox announced Zach Bove as the new pitching coach on Nov. 4 and Derek Shomon as the hitting coach on Nov. 7.
Bench coach Walker McKinven, third base/infield coach Justin Jirschele, assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan, bullpen coach Matt Wise and bullpen catcher Luis Sierra return for 2026.
