This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO – Mike Gellinger received a call from White Sox general manager Chris Getz Wednesday night that had nothing to do with his role as bench coach for the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League team.

That call dealt with Gellinger changing from his present position and joining the Major League staff as assistant hitting coach.

“He was saying that things were going to happen [Thursday] so just wanted to give me [time], be prepared for packing up and letting my wife and kids know that I’m going to be gone,” Gellinger told MLB.com on his way to the airport in Phoenix Thursday. “I was quite surprised to be honest with you.

“It’s a shock. But [I'm] excited at the same time, absolutely.”

Excited, but certainly not joyful.

Gellinger, in his 37th season as part of the White Sox organization, understands this opportunity comes from someone else’s loss. The White Sox dismissed manager Pedro Grifol Thursday after an 89-190 record put together over two seasons, including the dismal 28-89 ledger in ’24, while also dismissing third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez, bench coach Charlie Montoyo and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar.

So, the 60-year-old Gellinger returns to the level where he found great success as the unofficial assistant to hitting coach Greg Walker. Veteran position players from the 2005 World Series championship squad praised the expert guidance provided by Walker and Gellinger, who was technically a computer analyst from 1997-2010 with the White Sox.

Those teams won, and won frequently. As Gellinger stated in pragmatic terms: Winning has influence.

“Obviously, it was a great time. We accomplished something great,” said Gellinger of ’05. “But when you are winning, you are in a good spot. So, it would be hard to not say it wasn’t a great thing. Let’s face it, we were winning games. We won a lot. That makes things better for everybody.

“Things that I remember from that are obviously the celebrations after each series were unbelievable, shaking hands with players often. That’s a good thing. It was a great bunch, but yeah it was a great bunch because we did actually win.”

There’s no guarantee Gellinger continues with hitting coach Marcus Thames following these 45 remaining games, or that any of the coaches will return in ’25 with the newly hired manager figuring to have a say in his staff.

For now, Gellinger will collaborate with interim manager Grady Sizemore along with co-bench coach Doug Sisson and third-base coach Justin Jirschele as new additions. Gellinger returns to Chicago with a hitting philosophy that has paid dividends for him for years.

“I love to be feet to ground, square to center field, let your swing do the work and be able to keep your head on the ball,” Gellinger said. “I don’t think it’s anything that’s changed over the last ... whenever I was there 20 years ago.

“Greg Walker and I will talk about this often. It’s like we are still talking about the same stuff we were doing. We are proud of that. It's not like we were talking about swinging down on the ball before or up on the ball. Just have a level, on-plane swing with the ball and be able to leave your head there and let your arms and your hands do the work.”

Thames and Gellinger worked together during Spring Training and as part of an offseason seminar, where all the hitting coaches were together at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. In an ironic twist, Gellinger also knows numerous White Sox Major Leaguers from their time spent in Arizona during injury rehab.

He's ready to respond to the challenge from Getz, who he worked with as a player as part of that earlier big league run with the White Sox.

“Quality human being that will treat you fairly and [a] great communicator,” said Gellinger of Getz. “He’s always been great to me, there’s a lot of trust in both of us. I’ll tell him what I think, and he’ll tell me the same. It’s hard to argue with that.

“I’m not going to overwhelm anybody with what I think or what they think or whatever. There’s 100 ways to say the same thing. We just need to say the right thing that equates to what that person is actually thinking or how he can translate it.”