The Diamondbacks are promoting farm director Shaun Larkin to the major league staff as the third base coach, per Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. He will replace Tony Perezchica, who departed last month to take the third base job with the Astros.
Larkin, 45, played for Cleveland in the minors from 2002 to 2007, topping out at Triple-A without getting the call to the majors. Torey Lovullo coached and managed in the minor league system of that club during that time, later winding his way to managing the Diamondbacks. Larkin eventually pivoted to the non-playing portion of his career, spending eight years working with the Dodgers as a coach and coordinator in the minor leagues.
The Snakes plucked him away a year ago, hiring him as director of player development and reuniting him with Lovullo. It seems he and the organization have a good relationship, based on today’s news. “He’s always told us he wanted to get on the field,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen says, per Piecoro. “This has always been sort of the long-term plan. When T.P. left, this seemed like the right time, the right fit, to match everything up.”
Piecoro adds that Larkin was a candidate for a job in the Cardinals front office last month, prior to Perezchica’s departure, but Larkin ended up staying with the Diamondbacks and will now get to join a big league coaching staff.
Larkin’s previous job will be taken by Chris Slivka, who was his assistant this past year. “He’s got really good leadership skills and he’s got great relationships in the clubhouse,” Hazen says of Slivka. “This was always the long-term plan to have Chris be in a position to take over for Lark. It came a little quicker than we thought, but he’s ready for it. He’ll be great.” Piecoro notes that the 31-year-old Slivka started with the D’Backs as an intern nine years ago, moving to scouting and analyst roles in the years since.
Bob Sacamano 310
“Farm Director” to “3rd Base Coach” kinda feels like a demotion, right?
9/11ths
MLB farm director usually pays much less than MLB base coach. Directors of actually crop farms make 5x what a baseball farm director makes.
Stop Giving Billionaires Money
It does but that’s because MLB has inflated the amount of executive positions the last few years. AGM, POBO, GM, director of player personnel, CEO, team president, farm director, executive in charge of ordering lunches for other executives, etc. It’s the Wall Street business model of creating more jobs that don’t do much. At least with 3B case coach, he’ll be one of the few people who work on the field.
Slider_withcheese
Maybe he just wants to put on a uniform again. Maybe he has aspirations of managing. Maybe he just wants to be on a MLB field and in/around a clubhouse.. Who knows? Personal preference and I wish the guy the best.
truthlemonade
It seems to me that “farm director” carries far more responsibility and headache than MLB 3rd base coach. And MLB 3b coach has far more money and glamor.
A bad hire at farm director can really set a franchise back, right? Sure a 3b coach can screw up, but how many times per season will such a pivotal decision arise?
Stop Giving Billionaires Money
I would think that third base coaches are working daily with the major league team on stuff like defense and hitting gameplans. That’s probably where most of their value comes from
truthlemonade
Me again.
Farm Director seems like a year-round job.
How exactly should he prepare for his job as MLB 3b coach? It seems to me that he could probably do absolutely nothing until a week before spring training starts.
Then he could read books and articles and watch videos on 3b coaching. And learn whatever he can about all of his players and the various outfield arms around the league. He probably has some defensive coaching responsibility, but he probably already has knowledge and experience on that.
Stop Giving Billionaires Money
You’d be surprised how little work executives truly do. They’re delegators of work responsibility more than anything. Having worked around a few Fortune 500 executives, I’m not shocked that they do less work than a baseball coach.
This one belongs to the Reds
The higher an executive is, the less work they actually do and the more they are just a face.
paddyo furnichuh
“It seems to me” is maybe more of an insight into your own work ethic.
Reynaldo's
How much money does either one make?
YankeesBleacherCreature
More than you think and bad decisions can cost games. The Yankees made the right move firing Phil Nevins when he was their 3B coach and too aggressive sending runners.
hrmax
Farm Director and 3rd Base Coach seem like very different skillsets. Maybe he has both but seems like an incorrect promotion path from a skills perspective. More like Farm Director to Assistant GM / front office?
Old York
Welcome to the show! Nice to see a non-player get a chance at 3B.
9/11ths
He was a player. The article mentions his playing time.
sufferforsnakes
Sounds as simple as he just wanted to get back on the ball field. Maybe he likes wearing the uniform, too.
scottaz
Here is a helpful qualifier to place in front of many of the comments on this thread:
“I’m totally clueless, but I think…”