January 17th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka On Wednesday afternoon the Dodgers announced the coaching staffs for their minor league affiliates for the 2019 season. They are as follows:
Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers
- Manager – Travis Barbary
- Pitching Coach – Bill Simas
- Hitting Coach – Scott Coolbaugh
- Coach – Jeremy Rodriguez
Double-A Tulsa Drillers
- Manager – Scott Hennessey
- Pitching Coach – Dave Borkowski
- Hitting Coach – Adam Melhuse
- Coach – Pedro Montero
Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Manager – Mark Kertenian
- Pitching Coach – Connor McGuinness
- Hitting Coach – Dustin Kelly
- Coach – Elian Herrera
(Photo credit – Matt Herp)
Single-A Great Lakes Loons
- Manager – John Shoemaker
- Pitching Coach – Luis Meza
- Hitting Coach – Justin Viele
- Coach – Jason Bourgeois
Pioneer Rookie League Ogden Raptors
- Manager – Austin Chubb
- Pitching Coach – Dean Stiles
- Hitting Coach – Seth Conner
- Coach – Cordell Hipolito
Arizona Rookie League Dodgers
- Manager – Jair Fernandez
- Pitching Coach – Stephanos Stroop
- Hitting Coach – Jarek Cunningham
- Coach- Chris Gutierrez
Dominican Summer League Dodgers
- Managers – Keyter Collado / Fumi Ishibashi
- Pitching Coaches – Ramon Troncoso / Roberto Giron
- Hitting Coaches – Johermyn Chaves / Sergio Mendez
- Coaches – Pedro Mega / Antonio Bautista / Dunior Zerpa
Two Dodger minor league managers return, while new skippers are in place for Triple-A Oklahoma City, Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, Pioneer Rookie League Ogden, Arizona Rookie League and the Dominican Summer League team. John Shoemaker will manage the Loons in his 43rd season in the Dodger organization, Travis Barbary will become the skipper for the OKC Dodgers, Mark Kertenian will become the manager for the Quakes after leading the AZL Dodgers to the Arizona Rookie League Championship, and Austin Chubb will lead Pioneer Rookie Ogden after spending four seasons as one of the Dominican summer league managers.
Barbary enters his first season as the manager for Triple-A Oklahoma City and Bill Simas will remain on the OKC Dodgers staff as pitching coach, while Scott Coolbaugh and Jeremy Rodriguez start their first seasons with OKC. Coolbaugh had a four-year Major League career with Texas, San Diego and St. Louis and the Binghampton, NY native served as hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles for the last four seasons. Rodriguez, 29, enters his third season with the Dodgers and his first year with OKC after spending the last two seasons as the Ogden skipper. The Southern California native played in parts of five minor league seasons (2011-15) in the San Diego organization after being selected by the Padres in the 16th round of the 2011 Draft out of California State University, Bakersfield.
Hennessey, 48, enters his third season with the Drillers after leading the club to the Texas League Championship for the first time in 20 years last season. Prior to being named the skipper, Hennessey served as an amateur scout in the Dodger organization from 2007 to 2016. Dave Borkowski will also remain on staff as the pitching coach for his second season. Prior to joining the club in 2018, the former Major Leaguer spent the past eight years as a pitching coach in the Astros’ system (2010-17) and was also the pitching coach for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League in 2013. Borkowski appeared in 181 big league games (21 starts) over seven seasons, going 13-20 with a 5.87 ERA with the Tigers (1999-2001), the Orioles (2004) and the Astros (2006-08). Adam Melhuse will round out the staff as he joins the club as the newest hitting coach. Melhuse spent 2018 as the hitting coach for OKC, was the manager for the Los Angeles Angels’ Single-A Burlington Bees (2016-17) and was an advanced scout with the Chicago Cubs. The Santa Clara, California, native and former UCLA Bruin played eight Major League seasons (2000-08) with the Dodgers, Rockies, Athletics and Rangers, appearing in 311 games and hitting .234 with 24 home runs and 98 RBI.
Kertenian, 38, enters his third season with the organization and will manage the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes after managing the AZL Dodgers in 2018 and the Ogden Raptors in 2017. Connor McGuinness returns for his third season as pitching coach with the club while Dustin Kelly returns for his second year as the hitting coach.
Shoemaker, 62, will embark on his 43rd season in the Los Angeles organization and 26th season as minor league manager. Drafted by the Dodgers in the 35th round of the 1977 draft, Shoemaker has been with the club ever since, as a player (1977-80), manager, coach and coordinator and, in 2015, he was appointed as the Dodgers’ “Captain” of Player Development. Meza enters his fourth season with the Dodger organization as a pitching coach and his first year with the Loons after spending 2018 with the AZL Dodgers. Justin Viele enters his third season with the Dodger organization and his first year with Great Lakes.
Chubb, 29, begins his fourth season with the Dodger organization and his first year at the helm of Rookie-advanced Ogden. Chubb spent the last two seasons as the manager for the DSL Dodgers 2. In 2017, Chubb became the first American manager in the history of Campo Las Palmas and prior to becoming the skipper, he entered the coaching ranks as Rookie-advanced Ogden’s hitting coach. Dean Stiles enters his second year with the Dodgers as the pitching coach, and Seth Conner begins his second year coaching with the Dodgers. The 25-year-old Missouri native played five minor league seasons in the Blue Jays organization (2011-14, 16) and posted a .244 batting average with six home runs and 76 RBI in 187 career games.
Jair Fernandez begins his third season with the Dodgers organization and first as a manager for the AZL Dodgers. Fernandez spent the past two seasons with Single-A Great Lakes as the hitting coach. Stroop embarks on his first minor league coaching position after serving as a pitching coach for Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. Cunningham will enter his third season as the AZL Dodgers hitting coach. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 18th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of high school and played eight seasons as second and third baseman.
Collado and Ishibashi enter their seventh and ninth seasons in the Dodger organization, respectively. Giron enters his sixth season as the pitching coach, while former big leaguer Ramon Troncoso returns for his second season as pitching coach. Troncoso spent five years in the Majors (2008-11, 2013), including four seasons with the Dodgers (2008-11), going 8-8 with six saves and posting a 3.92 ERA in 175 relief appearances. Mendez will return for his fourth season, Mega in his 19thseason, Zerpa in his second, and Bautista will also return to the Campo Las Palmas staff in 2019.
In 2018, Dodger affiliates posted a .547 (452-374) combined winning percentage, which was the best among MLB clubs, with the club’s top six affiliates advancing to the postseason. Double-A Tulsa (Texas League), Single-A Rancho Cucamonga (California League) and the Arizona League Dodgers all won their league championships.
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(Article courtesy of LA Dodgers)
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What happened to Bill Haselman?
Bill is now a roving coach/hitting coordinator from what I have been told.
Great! Thanks.
Bill Haselman. One of the best and successful minor league managers in the Dodger Organization. And he is rewarded by replacing him? I hope this new position he received is as beneficial to the Dodgers as his coaching and managing abilities are. He should have been made the 3rd base coach maybe?
No argument here.
What is Haselman’s new position?
Per the beat reporters in OKC Hasselman requested the change in position. He was not forced out of the manager role.
Shoemaker kind of defines “Dodger for life”, no?
Judging from (briefly) going over all the changes, a lot of (if not most) these coaches are like gypsies, jumping from one org. to another, one position to another. All to avoid getting a real job (j/k).
One of the worst parts about covering the Dodgers minor league affiliates – more specifically the Quakes – is that I become friends with the manager and coaches, and it is always difficult when they not only leave Rancho, but leave the organization itself.
Without going into a lot of detail, it is becoming abundantly clear that if you are not 1,000 percent on-board with the Dodgers’ (i.e., Andrew Friedman’s) analytics mindset, your days with the Dodgers are numbered. I am most certainly not saying that this is what happened, but to see three-year Quakes manager Drew Saylor leave after winning the (very) prestigious 2018 Cal League Championship (as opposed to being promoted to Double-A Tulsa or appointed as an organization-wide roving coach/coordinator), it appears that not all that glitters is gold.
That being said, no one … I mean NO one deserved a promotion to manager more than Shoe did. He is such a great guy; as is Hass.