MILWAUKEE — Jerry Narron, a manager for five major league seasons with the Rangers and Reds and a bench coach for 13 seasons with five teams, has been impressed watching White Sox manager Tony La Russa in action in the pair’s first season together in the dugout.
“I’ve been fortunate to be in the game for long time and a lot of years,” Narron told the Sun-Times. “And it’s been awesome working with Tony. Just watching him, how he prepares for a game and runs through a game, it’s impressive.”
A former catcher, Narron’s title is major league instructor, and while his primary duty is overseeing the catchers, he wears a variety of hats with various responsibilities on La Russa’s staff, as most of the coaches do. Bench coach Miguel Cairo, for example, isn’t La Russa’s right-hand man as some bench coaches are for the manager.
“The way he does it, we all have different jobs on the bench,” Cairo said. “That’s the way he runs it, everyone has specifics. He uses everyone in different ways.
“I’m learning so much from Tony and Jerry. All the little details and things Tony covers in a game, it’s amazing.”
La Russa, 76, is the second-winningest manager of all time behind Connie Mack. Narron says he’s seeing why first-hand.
“I’d like to tell you some things [he excels at] but I don’t want to give away any trade secrets from a Hall of Famer,” Narron said. “But he has a pretty good idea who’s going to be on the mound every night, from now till the end. It’s pretty impressive. He’s pretty sharp.”
Harrelson’s Day
Ken Harrelson watches the White Sox on TV whenever he can.
But not Saturday.
The longtime Sox broadcaster is in Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation, which will be broadcast as a television-only event on MLB Network at 11 a.m. Sunday, featuring the 2020 and 2021 award winners.
Harrelson was the 2020 winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters.
The event will also be livestreamed on MLB.com and at facebook.com/baseballhall. MLB Network will re-air it at 7 p.m. and will air Hawk: The Colorful Life of Ken Harrelson at 9 p.m.
Harrelson will return to watching his first-place Sox soon.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m having fun watching these kids play,” he said.
“I’ve never seen so many injuries in my whole career. But it’s given these kids like [Andrew] Vaughn a chance to show they are for real. Vaughn has a chance to be a stud. He reminds me of me when I was playing. He goes up there ready to hit, and he’s strong.
“And all of a sudden you get Luis Robert and Eloy [Jimenez] back. It’s going to be interesting how Tony works it out. But it’s a nice problem to have.”
Jimenez soon
Jimenez’ 20-day maximum stay for his minor league rehab stint runs out Wednesday when the Sox are in Kansas City. Robert just started his this week.
“We’ve got a lot to think about,” La Russa said when asked when Jimenez might return. “Been in touch with our front office, and I know they’ve gotten reports back from [Triple-A manager Wes [Helms] about not only Eloy’s progress but Jake [Lamb] is there playing well. At this point, everything is all go forward, but I haven’t heard a deadline.”
