By Field Level Media
Sep 13 (Field Level Media) - The amateur scouting director of the Chicago White Sox has resigned and is no longer with the team.
The club announced the departure of Mike Shirley on Saturday night with no further information given.
However, The Athletic reported that Shirley was being investigated internally following allegations of verbal harassment, which included comments both racial and sexual in nature.
He had been on administrative leave since the White Sox received an anonymous
tip about comments allegedly made by Shirley, 56, last month while attending the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif. The event draws about 200 high school players who hope to impress the scouts and MLB team employees in the stands.
The results of the internal investigation are not known, and general manager Chris Getz has not addressed the situation.
According to The Athletic, Shirley previously had been investigated at least once. That was in 2022, when Major League Baseball received a tip from a former team employee who said Shirley treated scouts from "underrepresented groups" differently. Per the report, the investigation did not turn up bias in the way Shirley hired or dealt with people from diverse groups.
The team declined to comment about Shirley, and he did not respond to messages from The Athletic.
A former minor league outfielder in the Cleveland organization, Shirley started with the White Sox in a part-time role in 2000. Among the players he signed as a scout was Getz in 2005.
He was promoted to director of amateur scouting in September 2019. Among the No. 1 picks taken during his tenure, five have made it to the major leagues: LHPs Garrett Crochet (2020), Noah Schultz (2022) and Hagen Smith (2024), as well as shortstops Colson Montgomery (2021) and Jacob Gonzalez (2023).
Waiting their turn are shortstops Billy Carlson (2025) and Roch Cholowsky out of UCLA, who was the No. 1 overall pick this year.
Gonzalez played 30 games for the White Sox earlier this season, filling in at first base for an injured Munetaka Murakami. With Murakami's return imminent, Gonzalez was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with pitcher Brandon Eisert for pitching prospect Jaden Woods and future considerations.
Getz flipped Crochet in a trade to the Boston Red Sox for four prospects, including catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery and infielder Chase Meidroth, all of whom have played a role in Chicago's turnaround season.
Heading into Sunday's series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, the White Sox (76-72) hold a 1 1/2-game lead in the American League Central over the Cleveland Guardians. Chicago lost at least 100 games in each of the past three seasons.
(--Field Level Media)
