The Oklahoma City Dodgers, Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced their coaching staff for the 2022 season and they are once again led by manager Travis Barbary.
Also returning to the coaching staff are hitting coach Manny Burriss and bullpen coach Justin DeFratus. Pitching coach Dave Borkowski joins OKC after spending the past three seasons in the same role with Double-A Tulsa.
Oklahoma City is expected to add a bench coach prior to the beginning of the 2022 Minor League season.
Barbary is entering his 28th season in the Dodgers organization as a player, staff member or coach. In 2021, Barbary led the OKC Dodgers to a 67-62 record and second-place finish in the East Division of Triple-A West.
The skipper was slated to be OKC’s manager in 2020, prior to the cancelation of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he served as part of the coaching staff at the Dodgers’ alternate training site held at the University of Southern California.
During Barbary’s first season with OKC in 2019, the team posted a 62-77 record. Eight players under his tutelage made their MLB debuts in L.A. The team also set a single-season record by hitting 203 home runs and established a new club record for longest road winning streak at nine games.
Before being named OKC Dodgers manager, Barbary spent the previous 12 years as the organization’s catching coordinator. He has also served as a hitting coach and manager in the lower levels of the Dodgers’ farm system, with four total seasons managing the Rookie-Level Ogden Raptors (2003-04) and Low-A Columbus Catfish (2005-06). From 1998-2001, Barbary was with L.A. as a bullpen catcher.
The former catcher spent one season playing professionally in the Dodgers organization in 1994 before transitioning to coaching.
Burriss oversaw an offense that hit 181 home runs — the second-most during the team’s Bricktown era — including nine grand slams, tying the team’s single-season record during his first year as the hitting coach.
Burriss joined the Dodgers organization in 2019 as a roving hitting instructor. The Washington, D.C., native played professionally from 2006-18, including parts of seven seasons in the Major Leagues with the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies.
DeFratus, 34, returns as bullpen coach for a second straight season after playing for the team during parts of both the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
DeFratus played professionally for 13 seasons, including each of his last two in the Dodgers organization, and made 191 appearances for the Philadelphia Phillies between 2011-15. He also played in Triple-A with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals.
Changes to OKC Dodgers coaching staff
Borkowski enters his first career assignment as a Triple-A pitching coach. He served in the same capacity for Double-A Tulsa for the 2018-19 and 2021 seasons, and was part of the alternate training site coaching staff in 2020.
Last season, Tulsa’s pitching staff ranked second in Double-A Central in strikeouts and was tied for second in opponent batting average. Borkowski was Tulsa’s pitching coach when the team advanced to the Texas League Finals in both 2018 and 2019, including the Drillers’ championship-winning season in 2018.
Prior to joining the Dodgers, Borkowksi was a pitching coach in the Houston Astros organization for eight seasons between 2010-17, the last two of which were spent with Double-A Corpus Christi.
Borkowski’s playing career spanned 15 seasons, and he appeared in a total of 181 career Major League games with the Detroit Tigers (1999-2001), Baltimore Orioles (2004) and Houston Astros (2006-08).
After spending last season as the team’s assistant athletic trainer, Chelsea Willette has been elevated to lead athletic trainer. Yuya Mukaihara joined the training staff after spending last season with Tulsa, and Paul Fournier is the team’s new performance coach.
Fournier has a total of 17 years of experience as a Major League strength and conditioning coach, including the last eight seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies.
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