The Padres have hired longtime utilityman Ryan Flaherty as their new quality control coach, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (Twitter link). The news would seem to indicate that the 33-year-old Flaherty has decided to retire after eight Major League seasons.
As Olney notes, Flaherty will join Bobby Dickerson and Wayne Kirby as members of San Diego’s coaching staff with ties to Manny Machado. Dickerson and Kirby were both longtime coaches with the Orioles when Machado played for the club, while Flaherty and Machado are ex-teammates.
Drafted 41st overall by the Cubs in 2008, Flaherty never suited up for the organization, as the Orioles selected him during the 2011 Rule 5 Draft. He made his big league debut and appeared in 77 games for the O’s the next season, kicking off a six-year stint as as important and versatile member of Baltimore’s bench.
Flaherty was able to play all over the field for the Orioles, spending most of his time at second or third base and posting plus grades (as per UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved) for his career glovework at both positions. Flaherty also saw significant action at shortstop, first base, and both corner outfield slots, plus he even tossed an inning of mop-up relief work during an August 2016 game.
With only a .215/.284/.345 slash line and 37 home runs over 1474 career plate appearances, Flaherty wasn’t known much for his bat, though he took some nice swings during Baltimore’s playoff runs in 2012 and 2014. Over those two Octobers, Flaherty posted an .830 OPS and two homers over 36 PA. Flaherty is the first player born in Maine to ever hit a home run in an MLB postseason game.
Flaherty spent his last two seasons with the Braves in 2018 (reaching the postseason again), and then with the Indians last season, spending much of the year at Triple-A Columbus and appearing in only 14 games with the Tribe. He’ll hang up his glove after 547 MLB games over eight seasons, and just over $6.71MM in career earnings, as per Baseball Reference. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Flaherty on his career and wish him the best as he moves into the coaching ranks.
The f*** is a quality control coach?
I’m sure he’ll be working with infielders; nailing down footwork, arm strength/slots, along with being an approachable voice/dude on the staff
Basically they’re a go between from the analytics department to the team. QC coaches basically tell the players “the number crunchers say do this”. QC coaches are getting managerial gigs and interviews pretty regularly now, so this literally could be his first step to being a manager someday.
This is correct.
So he’s a people person? He takes the specks from the client to the engineers, basically… I mean, I’m no Bob the Consultant but I gotta ask what do they actually do here? How is this managerial? Basically they translate maths speak to baseball speak?
Main job is to communicate info/data from the analytics department to field personnel. Make it translatable and palatable to coaches/players. The key part is to get buy-in … which is why it’s important to have an ex-player who a) understands the data, and b) has the respect of the lockerroom. My understanding is Flaherty also is bilingual.
This was a key for Cole when he moved from Pittsburgh to Houston. The Astros sat down with him and showed (in general) to ditch the 2-seamer and go to the 4-seamer up in the zone. It worked.
That was Sam Fuld’s job with the Phillies. His title in 2018 was the catch-all “Assistant to the GM.” The changed his title, but not his job in 2019.
His job was to deliver the data, including “suggested” lineups directly to Kapler before every series. He did NOT interface with the players for “buy-in.” That’s the manager’s job.
I’m sure it’s different in every organization, but this speaks loudly to the assumption that Preller hired Tingler to be his puppet, not to manage the team.
It’s different for every team.
He will control Machado’s qualities.
Good Luck with that Mr. Flaherty
He makes sure the catering is good before serving it to the team.
dumb hire just like manager
What are you basing that on ?
Why were they dumb hires?
Pat Murphy. Andy Green. Tons of hitting coaches.
This is what happens when your Front Office is filled with Business majors who never played the game. A freaking QC Coach. Next, they’ll be hiring IEs to be efficiency experts.
His primary job is to make sure Tingler does what he’s told by Preller and Cameron.
They make sure the Gatorade is cold.
The control of quality dude!
Actually, he’ll be the baseball equivalent of Creed from The Office.
Nobody steals from Creed Bratton and gets away with it. The last person to do this disappeared. His name, Creed Bratton.
Was this hiring approved by Machado?
Ron Flattery.
LOL
Now all they need is to sign Adam Jones and Matt Wieters…maybe they’d take do a Hosmer for Davis trade? Please?
Good for Ryan. Always a class act in Baltimore. I wish he had more success playing but 8 seasons isn’t bad for a Rule 5 guy.
Also a former 1st round pick and an excellent fielder. All glove and no bat
Always proud of a Maine guy doing well.
Sounds like a fun job
A Mainer. Plenty of quality down east. Ayuh.
Markakis is his brother in-law
Good luck Ryan!
Braves fans appreciated his work in Atlanta. I wish him the best.
Yea he really filled in a serious hole at a high lvl when called on. Lead the league in batting average for a month or two, then of course tanked. But when we needed him the most, he came through big
they should win the world series now, they have a quality control coach, oh, what the hell is a quality control coach..
Lots of teams have them now. Some guy (below) had an accurate description. Mark Kotsay is the QC Coach for the A’s, for example.
Some teams have coaches in the same capacity only under a different title … like … the Dodgers Chris Jimenez, whose title is Game Planning Coach.
Flash is back. MM likely did put his stamp of approval on this.
He suited up for the Cubs organization for 4 years though
Thought creed bratton had this job nailed down
I swear the MLB makes up fictitious jobs and titles with vague responsibilities all the time for former players who don’t want to do anything else with their life but don’t really have much beyond general knowledge to offer. The number of ex star players who have been “special assistants” is ridiculous.
I literally think they get paid to hang out in the GM offices and offer insight and to hang out on the field at clinics and offer insight and otherwise just be around.
Reminds me of Stories I have from friends who got hired by Chinese companies to work in China but their actual job was to be The White Guy at meetings to impress potential clients and rival companies but their job duties were nebulous beyond appearing at meetings and conventions.
A quality control coach is not a special advisor . A quality control coach relays info and scouting reports from the front office directly to the players
You absolutely, positively could not be more wrong.
Which part?
If he’s anything like his dad, he will excel at coaching.
John Flaherty is not his father . No relation.
His Dad is in college baseball coaches hall of fame. Look him up. Check your info before assuming that others are assuming.
Flaherty was the only active MLB player left from Maine. I went to school with his younger brother. As a fellow Mainer, I wish him nothing but the best.
San Diego is the photo negative of Maine.