It’s been a month since the Chattanooga Lookouts announced the 2021 coaching staff, and we’ve been waiting ever since for the Cincinnati Reds to announce the staff for any of the other four teams in the farm system. Well, after what feels like the longest wait ever, and on the verge of the start of spring training for the big leaguers and a select group of minor leaguers (the remaining minor leaguers will show up once this camp is over), Cincinnati has announced the coaching staff for the Dayton Dragons.
The Reds affiliate for the High-A level (they moved up a level after having been at the Low-A level since their inception) will be managed by Jose Moreno. Brian Garman will be the pitching coach, Daryle Ward will be the hitting coach, and Darren Bragg will be the development coach.
Jose Moreno is going to be taking over as the Dragons manager. In 2020 he was set to manage for the AZL Reds in his first year in the organization, but the season never happened. He had spent the previous 19 years with the Seattle Mariners working in a variety of roles – manager at various levels, as well as serving as the Latin American Field Coordinator for Seattle. In 2019 he began the season as manager for the Everett AquaSox, but didn’t make it more than a few weeks into the season. On July 10th he was suspended by the Mariners for a week for an undisclosed reason. When his suspension was up it was announced that there was a mutual parting of ways between Moreno and Seattle.
Brian Garman was named the pitching coach for the Dragons for the 2020 season, but as we know, the season never happened. He’ll “return” as the Dayton pitching coach for the 2021 season. He had been the pitching coach for the previous two seasons in Orem and Inland Empire within the Los Angeles Angels organization. As a player he pitched for four seasons in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers. He attended the University of Cincinnati, and is from Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Daryle Ward spent the 2019 season with the Chattanooga staff as their hitting coach. In 2020 he was set to return to the Lookouts in that same role, but now will be in Dayton with the Dragons as their hitting coach. This will be his 6th (or 7th depending if we count 2020) season as a hitting coach in the Reds organization. His first came in 2016 with the AZL Reds. In 2017 and 2018 he served as the Dayton Dragons hitting coach before moving up to Chattanooga in 2019. As a player he spent parts of 11 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1998-2008. He played with the Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs. He was a career .263/.320/.447 hitter in 948 games and 2462 plate appearances.
Darren Bragg is returning to the dugout in 2021. He was set to be the bench coach for the Daytona Tortugas in 2020 after serving as the minor league outfield coordinator for the previous decade. Bragg will now serve as the Dragons Development Coach. As a player he spent 11 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1994-2004. He played for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, and ended his playing career in 2004 with the Cincinnati Reds.
Thanks for the report Doug! Just curious, where did they announce this at? Didn’t see anything on Twitter.
I was emailed the press release.
Any idea how minor league coaches spent their 2020 season? Were they on Zoom with players trying to instruct them? Were they breaking down video of the players? Were they just home with their families? To what extent were there coaches who decided they liked the time at home and chose to hang it up?
Some of them were at Prasco working with those guys. There was some interaction with the players who were at home and trying to get their work in, too. Not everyone had the same access to things, though, so it wasn’t a 1-size fits all approach.
Wonder what happened to Gookie Dawkins. Wonder if he will still be in Low A , Daytona instead of Dayton.