Renteria well qualified to manage Chicago White Sox

Tired of the hectic, stressful lifestyle that comes with professional baseball, Rick Renteria was content working in construction back home in Southern California after his major-league career as a journeyman player ended in 1994.

But John Boles, whom Renteria got to know when he was playing with the Florida Marlins in 1993-94, kept trying to drag him back into the game.

Boles, who twice managed the Marlins and also worked in the club's front office, saw something in Renteria and called every October asking if he wanted to be a minor-league manager.

Renteria kept saying no - until he almost cut off his finger in a 1997 work accident. When Boles called that October, Renteria eyed the injury and accepted an offer to manage Class A Brevard County.

Nearly 20 years later, he's still in the game and is preparing for his first season as Chicago White Sox manager.

"I'm extremely excited," said Renteria, who replaced Robin Ventura the day after the 2016 season ended. "It's a little bittersweet because I became good friends with Robin. I'm glad this opportunity has arisen, and I'm glad that (Ventura) was a person that was encouraging me to be a part of it."

Ventura was a former star player for the Sox, as was his predecessor, Ozzie Guillen.

Renteria has no ties to the club other than being bench coach under Ventura last season. Nevertheless, he still is pushing the "White Sox way."

"I think that we're intended to play the game a certain way," Renteria said. "I think that everybody has to buy into working well, preparing to play the game a certain way. I think hustle is important to me. I think the ability to be disciplined is important to me. But I also know that you have to enjoy the game that you're playing.

"You don't want to make it a burden. You want to make it something they buy into because they know it's the right thing to do."

From the first day of spring training, Renteria has been stressing preparation on the back fields at Camelback Ranch.

Under Ventura's and Guillen's final few seasons in the dugout, the Sox developed sloppy habits and frequently were burned.

As a big-league player who had to scrap for every inning of playing time, as a minor-league manager for eight seasons, a major-league coach with the San Diego Padres for six years and the manager of a young Chicago Cubs team in 2014, Renteria has developed an eye for detail that should serve him well with the White Sox.

"We're going to have a fun year," third baseman Todd Frazier said. "There will be a lot of ups and downs. At the same time, play the right way and take your wins with your losses. Rick has talked about it, play the right way, be on time, bring your focus day in and out. Some days will be better than others."

Joe McEwing moves from third-base coach to bench coach under Renteria, with Nick Capra taking McEwing's old spot and Curt Hasler replacing Bobby Thigpen as bullpen coach.

Capra and Hasler join the Sox's major-league staff after spending a combined 46 seasons in the minor-league system.

"They were in quite a few of the meetings that we had during the last portion of the (2016) season," Renteria said of his two new coaches. "I think they got a feel for some of the things that we do up here in terms of getting prepared for a series. They were able to see a lot of things we look at in terms of information. I think that's very helpful."