MIAMI – The Miami Marlins finalized their coaching staff for the 2023 season under Manager Skip Schumaker, including three returning coaches in Bullpen Coach Wellington Cepeda, Bullpen Coordinator Rob Flippo, and Pitching Coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.. Rod Barajas (Field Coordinator), Griffin Benedict (Quality Assurance Coach), Brant Brown (Hitting Coach), Jon Jay (First Base/Outfield Coach), John Mabry (Assistant Hitting Coach), Jody Reed (Third Base/Infield Coach) and Luis Urueta (Bench Coach) are joining the Marlins’ Major League coaching staff.
Barajas joins Miami’s coaching staff as the Major League Field Coordinator after working as a Catching Coordinator in the Angels’ Minor League system in 2022. Prior to Los Angeles, Barajas spent nine years with the Padres organization, including six with the Major League club. He coached in various capacities during his time in San Diego, including Bench Coach in 2019 and later that year as the club’s interim manager for eight games. As a player, he played for 14 Major League seasons across six different organizations, including the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
Benedict comes to Miami from the Chicago Cubs organization, where he served as the Iowa Cubs’ Hitting Coach for two seasons (2021-22). Previously, Benedict spent 10 seasons as Bullpen Catcher and a Major League Instructor for the San Diego Padres, the team that selected him in the 16th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. He played parts of two Minor League seasons before transitioning to the coaching side. Benedict also contributed to the Padres scouting department for seven years.
Brown returns to the Marlins organization as the club’s Major League Hitting Coach, joining Miami after serving as one of the hitting coaches for the Los Angeles Dodgers the last three seasons. The Dodgers offense ranked in the top three in both runs scored and OPS in each of the three campaigns. Before his time in Los Angeles, Brown coached five seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization (2013-17) and six seasons with the Texas Rangers (2007-12). The former big-league outfielder split his playing career between the Cubs (1996-1998, 2000), Pirates (1999), and Marlins (2000).
Cepeda will enter his fourth season as Miami’s Bullpen Coach. Cepeda coached 16 professional seasons with Arizona prior to his move to Miami, working as the Rookie League Manager in 2019 and as a Minor League Pitching Coach and Coordinator through their system from 2001 to 2018. As a player, he spent all four years of his professional career with the Diamondbacks.
Flippo will begin his fifth season as Miami’s Bullpen Coordinator. Before coming to the Marlins, he spent 16 seasons as the Bullpen Catcher and Practice Pitcher for the Dodgers. His first professional coaching assignment was as a bullpen coach for the Dodgers’ Single-A affiliate in 2001, and prior to that had coached five seasons at the collegiate level with Fresno State University and University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Born in Lodi, California, Flippo played one season of professional baseball with the Dodgers’ organization in 1989.
Jay returns to baseball as the Marlins’ First Base and Outfield Coach for his first professional coaching position after retiring as a player in 2021. The Miami-native and University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame member played 12 years in the big leagues with eight different organizations, including six seasons with the Cardinals from 2010-15. Jay, a 2011 World Series champion with St. Louis alongside former teammate Skip Schumaker, batted .283 with a .348 on-base percentage in 1,201 career games and posted a .996 fielding percentage across all three outfield positions.
Mabry joins the Marlins as the team’s Assistant Hitting Coach after serving as a Major League Coach with the Royals for the last three seasons. Previously, Mabry spent seven seasons coaching in the Cardinals’ organization, as the Assistant Hitting Coach in 2012 and then as Hitting Coach from 2013-18. St. Louis’s offense batted .330 with runners in scoring position in 2013, which stands as the highest mark in the Majors since the start of the Modern Era (1901-Present). Mabry was selected by St. Louis in the sixth round of the 1991 MLB Draft and played 14 seasons in the Majors. He spent the majority of his career with the Cardinals (1994-1998, 2001, and 2004-05). In his first full season in 1995, he hit a career-best .307 in 129 games and in 1996 set career-highs in games played (151), hits (161), doubles (30), and RBI (74).
Reed will become the Marlins’ Third Base and Infield Coach after spending the last two seasons as the club’s Minor League Infield and Baserunning Coordinator. Prior to working for the Marlins, Reed spent nine years in the Yankees organization, as a Minor League coach from 2007-10, and later as the Field Coordinator from 2014-19. He also spent three years coaching in the Dodgers’ Minor League system from 2011-13. He played 11 Major League seasons with the Red Sox (1987-92), Dodgers (1993), Brewers (1994), Padres (1995-96), and Tigers (1997). Reed tallied an American League-leading 45 doubles in 1990 and is one of three players in Red Sox history to record at least 40 doubles in three-or-more consecutive seasons (1989-91), joining Wade Boggs (7, 1985-91) and Mookie Betts (4, 2015-18). Primarily a second baseman, Reed posted a career .985 fielding percentage in over 1,000 games at the position.
Stottlemyre Jr. will return as Pitching Coach for his fifth season with the club and ninth season as a Major League Pitching Coach. In his first four years as pitching coach, Marlins pitchers have set various single-season club records, including a club-best 1,437 strikeouts and 1.27 WHIP in 2022 to beat out the previous bests set in 2021. Prior to Miami, Stottlemyre Jr. spent three seasons as the Mariners’ Pitching Coach from 2016-18 and 14 seasons coaching in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. After being selected in the first round of the 1985 MLB Draft, he pitched in six Minor League seasons in the Houston and Kansas City organizations, including a brief stint in the Majors with the Royals in 1990.
Urueta will join the club as Miami’s Bench Coach after spending 21 years with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He served five years as a Major League coach with Arizona, including two seasons as their Bench Coach from 2020-21 and as Coordinator, Major League Player Development and Instruction in 2022. The former first baseman played in parts of six seasons in the Diamondbacks’ Minor League system before joining their coaching staff in 2007. Born in Baranquilla, Colombia, Urueta served as Manager of Team Colombia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, which played its games at loanDepot park.
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