The Diamondbacks are going to add Wellington Cepeda to their coaching staff, reports Isaac Azout of Fish on First (X link). He will serve as bullpen coach and assistant pitching coach for the Snakes.
It’s a homecoming for Cepeda, as he has spent many years in the Diamondbacks’ system. As a player, he pitched for them in the minors from 1997 to 2000, though he didn’t reach higher than the High-A level. After his playing days were done, he moved into the coaching ranks, spending many years working for minor league clubs in Arizona’s system.
Going into the 2020 season, he got his first big league opportunity, but it was with the Marlins. He spent the past five years as the bullpen coach in Miami, though that organization has been undergoing a massive overhaul recently. Last month, it was reported that the Marlins were getting rid of their entire coaching staff as well as the clubhouse attendants, performance staff and more.
The Diamondbacks are doing a bit of a coaching shuffle as well, though not to the same degree as the Marlins. The Snakes parted ways with pitching coach Brent Strom, bullpen coach Mike Fetters and assistant pitching coach Dan Carlson last month. Brian Kaplan was later hired to replace Strom as pitching coach and now Cepeda will come back to the Diamondbacks as part of Kaplan’s staff.
Arizona pitchers struggled in 2024, as the staff had a collective 4.63 earned run average. That number was 27th out of the 30 clubs in the majors, ahead of only the White Sox, Marlins and Rockies. They clearly feel that a shakeup is needed, so they’re making a number of changes to their coaching staff on the pitching side.
Chooch Ruiz
i’m super thankful for MLBTR. it’s my favorite site. i got in during the trade deadline of 2009 when the Phillies were the hottest thing since Rocky. i still remember that first read of the website while sitting in my capstone class. my only request is can you please provide baseball-ref links for all coaches/retired players. even guys like Cepeda who didn’t reach the majors? this is my go to baseball website and i’m so appreciative that you link active and many non-active players so we can easily see their stats/reminisce so please consider doing so for the rest of the baseballers. happy thanksgiving
letitbelowenstein
Every team should have a ‘Cepeda’. Just a legendary baseball name.
labial
@Chooch try this url
gprivate.com/6egua
Chooch Ruiz
haha nice