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Anthony Iapoce

Tigers Sign A.J. Hinch To Long-Term Extension

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Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris announced today that the club has signed manager A.J. Hinch to a long-term extension. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic was among those to relay the news, adding that the deal was completed the week after the season ended. The details of the new contract were not disclosed but Stavenhagen notes that Hinch’s previous deal ran through 2025. The club also released a statement which announced that Joey Cora will join the coaching staff as third base coach, Anthony Iapoce as first base coach, Ryan Sienko as catching coach and Lance Zawadzki as assistant major league hitting coach.

Hinch, now 49, has now completed three seasons as the bench boss in Detroit. He had previously been manager with the Diamondbacks and Astros, winning the World Series with the latter club in 2017. However, the late 2019 revelations of the sign-stealing scandal in Houston led to Hinch getting suspended by MLB for one year and fired by the club. He was reportedly opposed to the sign-stealing and made attempts to stop it, smashing a monitor on multiple occasions, but the punishment ultimately landed on him for not doing enough to succeed in stopping the scheme.

After serving his suspension by sitting out the 2020 campaign, Hinch quickly garnered interest from other clubs around the league, with Dusty Baker having taken up his previous job in Houston. Despite the suspension, his reputation as a quality skipper hadn’t diminished and he was hired by the rebuilding Tigers. Their first season under Hinch resulted in a record of 77-85, below .500 but their best winning percentage since 2016.

Encouraged by that showing, the club decided to be aggressive going into 2022, signing Eduardo Rodriguez and Javier Báez. But a litany of injuries and some poor performances from those that were healthy led to a disappointing 66-96 campaign. General manager Al Avila was fired and later replaced by Harris, though with the latter getting the POBO title. Hinch survived and the club had another somewhat encouraging season in 2023, getting their win total back up to 78, good enough for second in the American League Central.

It seems that one year together was enough for Harris and Hinch to build a solid working foundation. Harris told Stavenhagen today that he didn’t want Hinch to feel like an inherited manager and offered the extension the day after the season ended. It’s unclear how long the new deal runs but Harris said today that “We are pumped that A.J. is going to be the manager of the Tigers for a long time.”

Coaching Notes: Tigers, Iapoce, Royals, Dillon

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Catching up on some coaching staff moves from around baseball…

  • The Tigers will name Anthony Iapoce as their new first base coach, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News reports (X link).  Tim Federowicz is leaving his position as the big league catching coach to take over as the manager at Triple-A Toledo, which was Iapoce’s previous job in 2023.  Iapoce worked as a hitting coach with the Rangers and Cubs from 2016-21 and then as a senior hitting coordinator with the Red Sox in 2022 before joining Detroit’s organization.  Federowicz retired from playing following the 2021 season, and the former catcher is already on his second Triple-A managerial stint after previously being the skipper of the Mariners’ top affiliate in 2022.
  • The Royals announced the hiring of Joe Dillon as an assistant hitting coach.  A big leaguer with the Marlins, Brewers, and Rays from 2005-09, Dillon’s time in Tampa’s organization overlapped with the tenure of current Royals manager Matt Quatraro, back when Quatraro was working as an instructor in the Rays’ minor league system.  Dillon also has longstanding ties in Kansas City, as the Royals began his pro career when they selected him in the seventh round of the 1997 draft.  Since retiring as a player, Dillon has worked as a hitting coach and coordinator at the Major League and minor league level, including two years as the Nationals’ assistant hitting coach in 2018-19, and then working as the Phillies’ big league hitting coach in 2020-21.

Coaching Notes: Cora, Tigers, Johns, Rays, Albernaz, Guardians

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The Tigers will be hiring Joey Cora for their coaching staff, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (X link) reported earlier this week.  Cora has spent the last two seasons as the Mets’ third base coach, and he “is expected” to fill that same role in Motown, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, who reports that current third base coach Gary Jones will remain on the staff in a new role.  However, that new position won’t be first base coach, as Petzold suggests that Triple-A manager Anthony Iapoce might take over first-base duties from the departing Alfredo Amezaga.

The 58-year-old Cora has 16 seasons’ worth of MLB coaching experience, coming on the heels of his 11 seasons as a Major League player from 1987-98.  Cora has worked as a bench coach and third base coach at the big league level, and is also known for his work as an infield instructor.  This is the first time Cora and Detroit manager A.J. Hinch have worked together, though Cora’s brother Alex worked as Hinch’s bench coach with the Astros before the younger Cora was hired as the Red Sox manager.

Catching up on some other coaching hires from the past week…

  • The Rays named Michael Johns as the club’s new first base coach.  (Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the day before the official announcement that Johns was the “likely choice” for the job.)  Johns will replace Chris Prieto as both the first base coach, and as a baserunning and outfield instructor.  This will be the first time the 48-year-old Johns has worked on a big league staff, though he has a wide range of experience as a coach, coordinator, and manager within Tampa’s farm system since the 2007-08 offseason.  Johns has managed five different Rays affiliates, including Triple-A Durham in 2023.
  • The Guardians announced that Craig Albernaz has been hired as their big league coaching staff’s new field coordinator.  Albernaz interviewed for the managerial vacancy that was filled by Stephen Vogt, though obviously Albernaz impressed the Guards enough to earn a spot in the organization.  The 41-year-old Albernaz played with Vogt when both were minor leaguers in the Rays farm system, and Albernaz went onto a five-season stint in Tampa’s organization as a coach, coordinator, and manager in the minors after ending his playing career.  For the last four seasons, Albernaz was the Giants’ bullpen coach.

Red Sox Hire Anthony Iapoce As Senior Hitting Coordinator

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The Red Sox announced their minor league coaching staffs and some changes in player development this afternoon. Most notably, the club has brought aboard Anthony Iapoce as senior hitting coordinator.

Iapoce has spent the past six years as a big league hitting coach. He worked in that capacity with the Rangers from 2016-18 before assuming the same role with the Cubs. The 48-year-old spent the next three seasons on Chicago’s North Side, but his contract was not renewed at the end of last season.

The Cubs had a middle-of-the-pack offense during Iapoce’s tenure. Chicago’s 101 team wRC+ between 2019-21 (excluding pitchers) checked in 16th of the league’s 30 clubs. They were 18th in that category (98 wRC+) last season, although Iapoce and the rest of the coaching staff obviously had to navigate the trade deadline departures of a few of the franchise’s most recognizable and productive players.

Boston also announced the hiring of longtime big league infielder Chad Tracy as the manager of their Triple-A affiliate in Worcester. The 41-year-old had spent the past seven seasons with the Angels, working both as a skipper in the low minors and as the club’s minor league field coordinator.

Cubs Part Ways With Coaches Anthony Iapoce, Mike Borzello

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TODAY: Iapoce indeed won’t be returning, as Hoyer told reporters today.  In another coaching change, Hoyer announced that associate pitching/catching/strategy coach Mike Borzello won’t be returning in 2022.

OCTOBER 5: The Cubs are expected to move on from hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, tweets Robert Murray of FanSided.  Iapoce has been the Northsiders major league hitting coach since October, 2018, when Joe Maddon was still manager and Theo Epstein was President of Baseball Operations. Given that neither is still with the team, it probably isn’t a big surprise that the Cubbies are moving on from Iapoce, too.

Iapoce started with the Cubs in 2013, initially in their player development department, where he oversaw their minor league hitting program.  He also served as a special assistant to then-GM (now President of Baseball Operations) Jed Hoyer and Epstein.

In light of their 71-91 record, no one will be surprised that the Cubs finished with a below average 92 wRC+ overall.  Of course, in the big scheme of things a club’s hitting coach is far down the pecking order when it comes to results on the field.  And it certainly didn’t help the team’s offensive performance that Hoyer and company chose to trade Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant prior to the July 30 deadline. But the Cubs are clearly a team in transition, and changes were coming and will no doubt continue to be made before Opening Day, 2022.

Prior to joining the Cubs, Iapoce served as the Rangers’ hitting coach from 2016 to 2018, his first big league coaching assignment.  He broke into pro ball in 1994, after being taken by the Brewers in the 33rd round of that year’s draft.  In 11 minor league seasons he reached the AAA level during parts of four campaigns, but only managed an anemic .210/.289/.266 output at that level. He then had stints as a minor league coach with the Marlins (2006 – 09) and Blue Jays (2010 – 12).

Cubs Name Anthony Iapoce Hitting Coach

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The Cubs have hired hitting coach Anthony Iapoce away from the Rangers to fill the same role in their own organization, the team announced Monday. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had reported just before the formal announcement that Iapoce had already informed the Rangers of his decision to take the Cubs’ offer. Iapoce has been serving as the Rangers’ hitting coach since the end of the 2015 season, when Texas hired him away from the Cubs organization. Chicago dismissed 2018 hitting coach Chili Davis last week after just one year in the organization.

A former minor league outfielder who had an 11-year professional career, the Rangers were Iapoce’s first big league coaching assignment, although the 45-year-old had previously worked in the Cubs’ player development department, where he oversaw their minor league hitting program and served as a special assistant to GM Jed Hoyer and president of baseball ops Theo Epstein. He’s also previously worked as a minor league hitting coordinator with the Blue Jays.

With the Cubs, Iapoce will be tasked with helping to revitalize an offense that, as Epstein put it, “broke somewhere along the lines” in a late-season slump that extended into the National League Wild Card game. Given his past experience with the club, Iapoce will already have some degree of rapport with Epstein, Hoyer and manager Joe Maddon, all of whom were in the organization along with Iapoce back in 2015.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are already looking for a new manager and were already in search of a new assistant hitting coach after letting go of Justin Mashore. As Wilson notes, Texas GM Jon Daniels had already given the rest of his coaching staff freedom to pursue other opportunities after telling them that their 2019 fates would not be determined until the Rangers name a new manager. Texas will now be assured of further turnover in the dugout as the organization looks to piece together a developmentally-focused field staff to work with an expected youth movement.

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