Mike Gellinger

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Michael Gellinger

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Mike Gellinger played in the minor leagues in 1986-1987 after being undrafted from college. He played in the Detroit Tigers system in 1986. After the Tigers released him, he joined the Chicago White Sox in 1987. Over his minor league career, Gellinger appeared in 121 games and hit .266/.369/.329.

Gellinger stayed with the White Sox organization after 1988 in a variety of roles. He began his coaching career as a player/coach for the Tampa White Sox in 1988. In 1989 Gellinger started the year as the third base coach for the Utica Blue Sox before taking over as manager on July 4th from Ron Vaughn. The primary purpose of the move was to allow Vaughn to concentrate on working with the hitters. In 1990 Gellinger managed the GCL White Sox, but there are also baseball cards showing him as a coach for the Birmingham Barons. It may be that he began the year with the full season Barons before taking up managerial responsibilities with the short season GCL team. Gellinger returned to Utica as manager in 1991. He was the White Sox' minor league defensive coordinator in 1992-1993 before returning to managing in 1994-1995. He spent 1996 as the minor league infield coordinator.

In 1997 Gellinger was named the White Sox' major league computer scouting analyst, a role he retained through the 2012 season. During these years he also worked informally with the hitters in support of hitting coach Greg Walker. This secondary role became more pronounced over the years so that by 2012 news reports referred to him as the assistant hitting coach even though he never formally held that title. He replaced Joey Cora as bench coach for Chicago for the final two games of the 2011 season after the White Sox fired both Cora and manager Ozzie Guillen.

He was then manager of the Bristol White Sox in 2013 and served as the hitting coach for the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League later that year. Gellinger managed the AZL White Sox from 2014-2015. He was scheduled to return in 2016, but was replaced by Ever Magallanes. Gellinger took over as minor league hitting coordinator for the 2017-2019 seasons. He was scheduled to manage the Great Falls Voyagers in 2020 before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the minor league season. Gellinger was the manager for the ACL White Sox in 2021 and bench coach of the same club in 2022-2023. Initially in 2023, he was also designated as a hitting coach.

As a scout, he signed Eddy Alvarez.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record[edit]

Year Team League Record Finish Organization Playoffs Notes
1989 Utica Blue Sox New York-Penn League 31-29 6th Chicago White Sox replaced Ron Vaughn (8-10) on July 4
1990 GCL White Sox Gulf Coast League 21-42 14th Chicago White Sox
1991 Utica Blue Sox New York-Penn League 39-37 5th Chicago White Sox
1994 South Bend Silver Hawks Midwest League 72-67 6th Chicago White Sox
1995 GCL White Sox Gulf Coast League 36-22 4th Chicago White Sox Lost in 1st round
2013 Bristol White Sox Appalachian League 20-45 10th Chicago White Sox
2014 AZL White Sox Arizona League 30-25 4th (t) Chicago White Sox
2015 AZL White Sox Arizona League 30-25 5th Chicago White Sox League Champs
2020 Great Falls Voyagers Pioneer League Season cancelled
2021 ACL White Sox Arizona Complex League 25-34 13th Chicago White Sox

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