Chicago White Sox’s amateur scouting director, Mike Shirley, has resigned, a decision announced on Saturday just before the team secured a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Shirley, who had been in the role for seven seasons, faced allegations of making inappropriate racial and sexist remarks towards colleagues, as reported by The Athletic.
According to the report, Shirley was placed on administrative leave following an anonymous tip about his behavior during the Area Code Games in Long Beach, California, in August. This event draws high school players and a range of scouting personnel, including directors and front-office staff.
The investigation into Shirley reportedly uncovered claims of vulgar language directed at women and comments regarding their bodies, as detailed by sources to The Athletic.
The White Sox adhere to a policy of not commenting on personnel matters, as noted by MLB.com.
Prior to this, Shirley had been the focus of at least one other internal investigation stemming from an anonymous complaint from a former employee, who alleged that Shirley had mistreated scouts “from underrepresented groups,” according to The Athletic.
Interestingly, following the previous investigation, no disciplinary action was taken against him since it was concluded that there was no wrongdoing.
Shirley, now 56, became the director of amateur scouting in September 2019, after a tenure as the assistant scouting director and cross-checker from 2010 to 2018.
This year, his department was heavily involved in the anticipation of Chicago holding the top pick in the MLB Draft for the third time in franchise history. The White Sox, equipped with a record Draft pool of $20,489,500, selected shortstop Roch Cholowsky from UCLA with the first overall pick. However, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season in August due to right wrist soreness.
