The D-Backs are hiring J.R. House as third base/catching coach, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The 45-year-old has held that role with the Reds for the past seven seasons.
House had a brief big league playing career as a part-time catcher. He coached and managed in the D-Backs’ farm system for most of the 2010s and still lives in Arizona. House tells Piecoro that the proximity to home was a big reason for him to leave the Reds for what amounts to a lateral move.
The Diamondbacks had hired a first-year third base coach, Shaun Larkin, last offseason. Larkin struggled in that role and had a few bad sends that led manager Torey Lovullo to remove him from the job in the middle of August. Larkin remains on staff as an infield instructor. Piecoro writes that Tim Bogar, who worked as third base coach for the final five weeks of the season, will return to a minor league player development role.
That may be the only change to Arizona’s staff. Lovullo told The Burns & Gambo Show earlier this month that they’d bring back all their coaches, though he left the door open to some role shuffling. The Reds will now need to make at least one coaching change going into Terry Francona’s second season at the helm.
Rejected headline:
Larkin Replaced by Former Reds Coach
J.R. in the House!
Why does this make my brain imagine him at third base yelling “Take it to the House!!” to base runners.
Propably see mike sarubaugh at third base for tito.
Woof
Curt Casali may be coaching catchers now too.
Why would the Reds let House get away? One of the better presences around.
Shaking my head. Cheep cheep says the birdie.
The Reds are cheap but not in this case. House lives in Arizona and figures to have more opportunities for a promotion with the Diamondbacks.
There is always a reason one starts looking outside their current job. That is most likely a big reason why too.
Yes, working where you live is a big plus.
Good riddance. Krall and Francona will find better.
I don’t think Tito is going to loose sleep. I found it somewhat odd that so many of David Bells staff was kept on.
Nice to see JR’s name. Hell of a quarterback in West Virginia.
He still threw Tyler Stephenson invincible passes after home runs. 🙂
Some even said they were invisible.
Ugh ..gotta love auto correct, even when it’s wrong!
Name the MLB player who lost semis in probably the greatest game in WV history? From Parkersburg
I would guess this has something to do with Francona’s conservative nature with base runners
This one……Reds.
When you made the comment above about JR I decided to mute you. You are always negative.
However your comment about the invisible passes with a smiley face at the end saved you. Go Reds!!
This guy cannot be any worse than what they had at 3rd base coach last year. Larkin looked lost at sending runners at the right and wrong time. Just another reason the D’Backs did not make a run at a good season in 2025. Mediocre coaching and managing leads to a mediocre season, injuries only an excuse one could live with, but bad coaching and managing was the real reason this team did not prosper. Now with Luvello on a one-year deal, and his coaches on the same 1yr contracts, let’s see what gives in the dugout with the game decision when they are all on the same lame duck 2026 ship.
For the fun of it, the DBacks need to get Joe McEwing as the bench coach and Jeremy Barnes as the (assistant) hitting coach.