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The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to add to manager Torey Lovullo’s staff, announcing on Monday that they have hired former Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister as their bench coach.
Banister managed the Rangers from 2015-18 and led them to the AL West Division title in 2015 — where he was named AL Manager of the Year — and again in 2016. He is the first American League manager to ever win the award with no prior managerial experience.
However, the experience he now brings is a beneficial addition to a young team. He spent 29 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates as both a player and a coach in their major and minor league system, acting as their bench coach from 2010-14 and a special assistant of baseball operations from 2019-20.
“He was always somebody that I admired from across the field in the other dugout,” said Lovullo on Banister. “From his time in Pittsburgh, I could see the influence that he had on what they were doing and progressing and moving forward with a young group of core players.
“And then watching him from across the field when he was a manager of the Rangers. I just enjoyed the way he went about his business. There was a seriousness to his day, and I think he was somebody that I had targeted from the very beginning as a potential candidate.”
The 57-year-old Oklahoma native was asked how his years of experience as a manager can help Arizona turn things around. “I think all the years of coaching help us and gives us a lot of resources to lean back on,” said Banister. “But I think that more than anything else the combination of what it takes to win on a daily basis, the ability to meld young up-and-coming players, players that are continuing to develop to be major league players.
“Because at this stage of the game, we get players to the big leagues really early, and there is some continued skill development, skill acquisition for these young guys.”
Most recently, Jeff Banister was the director of player development for the University of Colorado’s baseball program in 2021. With the D-backs’ commitment to looking to their farm system to fill positional needs, his background again will be an asset for Lovullo in developing Arizona’s future stars.
But it won’t be just the young players he will be trying to get the most out of. Banister stressed the importance of veterans being involved with the development of their younger teammates. “When I got to Texas, we had some strong veteran presence inside that clubhouse. But how do you meld that with the young players, how do they fit inside of that clubhouse, how do you utilize those veteran players to help teach, shape and mold and lead those young players as well?”
Lovullo stated that Banister will focus on catching and controlling the run game, responsibilities that were previously handled by Robby Hammock as the team’s former quality control and catching coach.
“We have a very young baseball team,” Louvllo added. “And something that was attractive to me was what he did as a bench coach in Pittsburgh. Let’s go back 8-10 years ago in Pittsburgh. They had a very young core of outstanding players, and he helped develop those players. That was something that was very intriguing to me.”
The hiring process is still not over as the D-backs look to continue to fill the remaining positions on Lovullo’s staff with qualified personnel, but it would seem like adding a former major league manager of Jeff Banister’s caliber who specializes in player development is a step in the right direction for this franchise’s plan.
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