Rick Hahn (born March 20, 1971) is an American former baseball executive who most recently served as the Senior Vice President/General Manager of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball.
His aspirations of becoming a baseball executive were spurred on early in life at age eleven when he wrote a letter to Dallas Green, the Chicago Cubs Vice President and General Manager at the time, suggesting possible trades, and Green responded to him in the form of a letter.[2]
Career
Hahn began his professional career as an agent at Steinberg, Moorad and Dunn in 2000. He worked there for two years before joining the White Sox in 2002.[3]
Following the 2007 season, Hahn withdrew his name from consideration for the General Manager's job of the St. Louis Cardinals, who eventually named John Mozeliak to the position,[4] and he also declined the opportunity to interview for the Pittsburgh Pirates GM job prior to Neal Huntington being named to that post.[5] Additionally, the White Sox declined Hahn permission to interview for the Seattle Mariners GM job following the 2008 season.[6]
During the 2008 season, Baseball Prospectus had named Hahn one of the top-ten GM candidates in the game.[7] In July 2011, SportsIllustrated.com ranked Hahn as the No. 1 General Manager Candidate in Major League Baseball.[8] Similarly, in March 2010, Baseball America named Hahn the No. 1 General Manager prospect in baseball.[9][10]
On October 26, 2012, the White Sox promoted Kenny Williams from general manager to executive vice president, and promoted Hahn from assistant general manager to general manager.[11]
Following the 2020 season, in which the White Sox made their first post-season appearance since 2008, Hahn was voted winner of the Sporting News Executive of the Year Award by a panel of his peers.[12] Hahn joined Roland Hemond (1972) and Bill Veeck (1977) to become only the third White Sox executive to win the honor in the 85-year history of the award.[13] During Hahn's tenure, the White Sox made the post-season in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the franchise's 121-year history when they won the 2021 American League Central Division.[14]
The White Sox fired Hahn and Williams on August 22, 2023.[15][16] This was amidst a season in which the White Sox would go on to lose 101 games.[17]