Just a few days after the Arizona Diamondbacks introduced Chip Hale as the seventh manager in franchise history, the rest of the new-look regime is starting to take shape. On Thursday, the team announced the rest of the coaching staff which includes many familiar faces to Diamondbacks faithful.
The new staff is as follows:
Bench Coach: Glenn Sherlock
Pitching Coach: Mike Harkey
First Base Coach/Outfielders Coach/Base Running Instruction: Dave McKay
Third Base Coach/Infielders Coach: Andy Green
Hitting Coach: Turner Ward
Assistant Hitting Coach/First Baseman Coach: Mark Grace
Bullpen Coach: Mel Stottlemyre Jr.
Catchers Coach/Bullpen Catcher: Henry Blanco
Hale brings back Mike Harkey (Pitching), Dave McKay (First Base), Mel Stottlemyre Jr. (Bullpen) and Turner Ward (Hitting) to their coaching positions in which they held from the 2014 season.
Some of the new faces to this staff are not new faces to the Diamondbacks in it’s history. Sherlock has spent the last 17 with the Diamondbacks serving as the third base coach in 2014 after spending 2005-13 as the club’s bullpen coach. He origionally began his tenure with the organization in 1996 as the Minor League catching coordinator.
Mark Grace returns to the Diamondbacks clubhouse in what will be his 15th season with the D-backs organization but it will be first on the Major League staff. He served as hitting coach with Rookie Arizona League D-backs in 2013 and Short-Season A Hillsboro in 2014.
Andy Green enters his 12th season in the D-backs’ organization and first coaching on the Major-League level. Green, who played for Arizona from 2004-06, was manager at Double-A Mobile for the last three seasons. And Henry Blanco, who retired as a Diamondack just before the start of last season is back. Kirk Gibson made him a member of the coaching staff and that will remain the case under Chip Hale.
Now that the new front office and coaching staff is in place, the focus now shifts to the Diamondbacks roster and how much it will change from the 2014 season.
