Ethan Katz is heading into what might be the toughest pitching job in baseball.
The former White Sox pitching coach has landed with the Colorado Rockies, according to reports, giving him a chance to reset after a strange year that saw him leave Chicago, spend a stint in Houston, and now surface in a place where pitching has long been a brutal assignment. Katz was with the White Sox from 2021-25 before the organization moved on and hired Zach Bove to run the staff under new manager Will Venable.
Katz’s path back to a big league mound is a familiar one in Colorado. He was drafted by the Rockies and spent four seasons in their system from 2005-08, posting a 13-7 record with a 2.79 ERA in 102 games and eight starts. He never made it to the majors as a player, but the organization clearly knows him well enough to bring him back in a new role.
Before his White Sox run, Katz built his coaching reputation in the high school ranks at Harvard-Westlake High School in California, where he worked with future big league pitchers Lucas Giolito, Max Fried, and Jack Flaherty. That work helped him move into pro ball, first as a minor league pitching coach with the Angels and later in stops with LA, Seattle, and San Francisco. His White Sox hiring in 2021 came at the recommendation of Giolito, then the club’s ace.
The move to Colorado puts Katz in the middle of one of the league’s most daunting development projects. The Rockies have been the worst pitching team in baseball for years, and the numbers are staggering.
Since becoming a franchise in 1993, Colorado has finished with the worst team ERA in baseball 11 times, including each of the past five seasons. The Rockies have been in the bottom five in team ERA in 26 of their 34 seasons, and their team ERA since 1993 sits at 5.59.
Yes, the altitude in Colorado makes life harder on pitchers. But the source of the problem goes deeper than that.
Arizona has similar conditions, and the Diamondbacks have found far more success. The bigger issue, as the reporting here lays out, is that the Rockies have not consistently prioritized pitching development.
That’s the challenge Katz inherits alongside new pitching director Matt Daniels, who was also hired as part of a broader organizational reset under a new GM for 2026. It’s a long-term fix, not a quick patch.
Katz arrives in Denver after being let go by Houston following the 2026 season, when the Astros won the AL West but were knocked out by the White Sox in the Wild Card series. A month later, he’s back in the job, this time with a franchise that will tell the league a lot about his coaching value.
For White Sox fans, the real measuring stick is simple: how does Katz do in Colorado?
Meanwhile, Bove’s first year on the South Side gave Chicago some reason for optimism. He came over after success in Kansas City, and his early work with Sean Burke and the bullpen has been a promising start. With several young pitchers already on the roster or on the way in 2027, the White Sox should find out soon enough whether Bove is the right fit to lead their staff.
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