Daytona Tortugas announce 2023 coaching staff
The Daytona Tortugas announced their 2023 coaching staff Wednesday. The list features some new names but also three returners to the area.
Julio Morillo, who played catcher for the Single-A Tortugas in 2015, takes over as manager. Lenny Harris and Dick Schofield are also back. Harris previously spent 2019 and 2022 as bench coach on the Daytona staff, and Schofield served on the 2021 crew.
As for the first-time Tortugas leaders, Rob Wooten and Jason Broussard join as pitching coach and hitting coach, respectively. Athletic trainer Lauren Powers, performance coach Conor Cantwell and video and technology specialist Andres Borges round out the staff.
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Morillo, 30, succeeds Gookie Dawkins as manager after the latter held the position for the last two seasons. In 2022, his first as a skipper, Morillo managed the rookie-level Arizona Complex League Reds. This will be his fourth season as a coach following five seasons as a baseball operations assistant and Spanish translator for the Major League Cincinnati Reds. The Barinas, Venezuela, native played six seasons in the Reds’ minor league system. His Tortugas’ stint lasted four games.
Wooten worked as the pitching coach for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts the last two years. The 37-year-old appeared in the big leagues from 2013-2015 for the Milwaukee Brewers and finished his playing career with three seasons in the Reds’ system.
Broussard was with Morillo on the Arizona Complex League Reds’ staff in 2022. He coached six seasons at the college level with Eastern Florida State and Southern Illinois before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a coach and scout in 2019. This will be his third campaign with the Reds.
Harris enjoyed the longest major league career of any 2023 Tortugas coach. He played 18 seasons with eight different organizations and owns the record for most pinch hits in a career (212). He suited up for Cincinnati from 1988-1989 and again from 1994-1998. Now 58 years old, Harris is entering his seventh year as a coach in the Reds’ minor league system. He has major league coaching experience as a hitting coach with the Washington Nationals and third base coach with the Miami Marlins.
Schofield, 60, is the longest-tenured Reds coach on staff, having been with the organization since 2013. He was supposed to manage the Tortugas in 2020 before COVID-19 canceled the minor league campaign. In 2021, he served as Daytona’s development coach before spending last year in Triple-A Louisville. Schofield notched 14 Major League seasons as a shortstop and led the American League in fielding percentage four times.
The Tortugas will kick off their season April 7 on the road against the St. Lucie Mets. They will host their home opener April 11 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Tortugas announce coaching staff for 2023 season
