Giants set Flying Squirrels' 2021 field staff

RICHMOND, Va. – José Alguacil will return as the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ manager for the 2021 season, the San Francisco Giants announced on Monday. Alguacil will be joined by pitching coach Steve Kline, hitting coach Doug Clark and fundamentals coach Gary Davenport.

Alguacil had been named as the Flying Squirrels’ manager last year prior to the cancelation of the 2020 season. He previously managed in Richmond during the 2015 season and led the team to a 72-68 record, the third-best mark in the franchise’s history and its most recent season with a winning record.

2021 RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS FIELD STAFF

Manager: José Alguacil

Pitching Coach: Steve Kline

Hitting Coach: Doug Clark

Fundamentals Coach: Gary Davenport

Athletic Trainer: Garrett Havig

Strength and Conditioning Coach: Joe Palazzolo

The 2021 season will be Alguacil’s 15th overall with the Giants organization. He served as the first base coach and oversaw bunting instruction while assisting with infield defense and baserunning in San Francisco from 2017-2019 on Bruce Bochy’s major league staff.

As a player, Alguacil signed with the Giants as an infielder in 1993. He played nine professional seasons in the minors and independent leagues, spending time with the Giants and Chicago White Sox organizations.

Following his playing career, Alguacil served as an instructor in the minors for the Montreal Expos from 2002-2003. He began his managerial career in 2004 with the Vermont Expos, Montreal’s short-season Single-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League. He remained with the organization as it transitioned to becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005 as a minor league infield coordinator. Alguacil managed the Vermont Lake Monsters in 2006.

Alguacil, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, joined the Giants as a roving infield instructor in 2007 and held that role for eight years prior to being appointed as Richmond’s manager in 2015. He managed the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats in 2016 before being named to the major league staff the following year.

In four total seasons as a manager, Alguacil has compiled a 198-233 record.

Kline will return for his fourth season as Richmond’s pitching coach, having served in the same role from 2015-2017.

Under Kline’s direction, the Richmond pitching staff led the Eastern League in ERA (3.12) in 2015, which still stands as a franchise record, and the team ranked second in ERA (3.48) in the circuit in 2016. Fifteen of the pitchers Kline led in his previous tenure with Richmond have gone on to pitch in the majors.

Kline spent the next two seasons as the pitching coach for Triple-A Sacramento from 2018-2019. Prior to his first stint in Richmond, he was the pitching coach for the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets for six years.

As a player, Kline was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the eighth round in 1993 out of West Virginia University and went on to spend 11 years in the majors with the Indians (1997), Expos (1997-2000), Cardinals (2001-2004), Orioles (2005) and Giants (2006-2007), going 34-39 with a 3.51 ERA and 39 saves. The left-hander appeared in 796 MLB games and led the majors in appearances three consecutive seasons from 1999-2001. His 89 appearances in 2001 for St. Louis stood at the time as a record for the most games pitched in a season by a left-hander.

Clark joins the Flying Squirrels for his first season as the team’s hitting coach and his seventh year with the Giants organization. He spent the 2019 season as the hitting coach for the short-season Single-A Salem-Kaiser Volcanoes. Clark began his coaching career in the rookie-level Arizona League in 2015. He was the hitting coach for Single-A Augusta in 2016 and spent the next two seasons a hitting coach with the Giants in the Arizona League.

An outfielder during his playing career, Clark was drafted by the Giants in the seventh round in 1998 out of UMass Amherst. He played 17 total professional seasons, including stops in the majors with the Giants in 2005 and the Oakland Athletics in 2006. In 2004 with Norwich, Clark was selected as an Eastern League All-Star. He concluded his stateside career in 2007 with the Richmond Braves. From 2008-2015, he played for teams in Korea and Mexico.

Davenport joins the Richmond staff for his 18th year with the Giants organization. He was the Flying Squirrels’ fundamentals coach in 2018. Davenport joined the Giants organization as a roving instructor in 2004 before spending 2005 as San Jose’s hitting coach. From 2006-2007, he was the hitting coach for the Connecticut Defenders, which was the Giants’ Double-A outfit in the Eastern League at the time. He returned to San Jose for five seasons from 2008-2012 before managing the short-season Salem-Keizer Volcanoes from 2013-2014 followed by three years as a roving instructor from 2015-2017. He spent the 2019 campaign as the fundamentals coach for San Jose.

Drafted by the Giants in the 27th round in 1981 out of Santa Clara University, Davenport played parts of three professional seasons in the San Francisco organization. He has also worked instructing baseball overseas in South Africa and Italy.

Havig returns for his third overall season as the Flying Squirrels’ athletic trainer. He originally served in that role with Richmond in 2017 before spending 2018 as the Giants’ Assistant Coordinator of Minor League Medical, a position he still holds alongside his Richmond duties. He was the Flying Squirrels’ athletic trainer again in 2019. Now in his 12th season with the organization, Havig joined the Giants in 2010 as the athletic trainer for the rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona League. He joined Salem-Keizer the following season, spent the 2012-13 seasons with Augusta and the next three years with San Jose.

Palazzolo joins the Flying Squirrels’ staff after spending three seasons as the strength and conditioning coach for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes from 2017-2019. Now in his fifth year with the Giants organization, Palazzolo previously served in strength and conditioning roles with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins organizations.