Red Sox Hire Gary DiSarcina As New Bench Coach

Just last week, the Arizona Diamondbacks hired former Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo as their new manager, leaving the Red Sox open to hire whoever they wish to assist manager John Farrell. It didn’t take them long to fill that position, as they hired Gary DiSarcina, who has worked for the Red Sox in the past and has quite an extensive resume.

DiSarcina played his entire major league career as a shortstop with the then California Angels, and briefly attempted to make a comeback with the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2002 after his numbers plummeted in his final two seasons, but was an All-Star in 1995. He was also a general manager assistant to Tony Reagins and Jerry Dipoto with the Angels from 2011-2012, and at one point was the Angels farm systems’ field coordinator of player instruction. DiSarcina was the Angels’ third base coach from 2014-2015, and was their first base coach for the 2016 season.

He managed the Red Sox Single-A affiliate Lowell Spinners from 2007-2009, was Boston’s minor league infield instruction coordinator in 2010 and managed the PawSox in 2013. DiSarcina led the team to a 80-63 record, a first-place finish in their respective division and went to the finals of the Governors’ Cup championship. He was named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America because of his managerial success in Pawtucket. In the 2013 offseason, he was even interviewed by the Seattle Mariners for a possible managerial role.

As you can tell, the guy has been around baseball for a while, especially around younger players and in a very up-close role with them. When he managed Pawtucket, he was around guys like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. to name a few. He could potentially help Bogaerts figure his woes out, as Xander has an incredibly disappointing second half of the 2016 season overall. This current Red Sox team is very young and could totally benefit from having a guy like DiSarcina around.

Him being familiar with the Red Sox organization is another plus. He’s already familiar with players, probably even other coaches and the front office, too. This is the first time he’s worked with the major league Red Sox, but I doubt that that will be an issue. From what I’ve heard, he’s an intelligent and very up-front guy, which is what the team needs.

Having someone like Lovullo as bench coach was ideal, and it was going to be hard to find a perfect replacement for him no matter what, but my knee-jerk reaction is that DiSarcina is going to be a great fit. Looking at his resume, you could argue that he is rather similar to Lovullo, as a person with lots of experience and the various roles that he has had with athletes. He’s a guy who played for a little over a decade and has been around the block a couple of times. He’ll speak his mind and thoughts to Farrell and other coaches, and at least seems dedicated to his role, whatever it may be at the time. Dombrowski wanted to stay internal when making personnel moves this offseason, and pretty much stuck to his word with this latest move.