On Tuesday morning, the Cincinnati Reds announced that their new manager, David Bell, had agreed to terms with the Dodgers’ hitting coach, Turner Ward, on joining his team of coaches in Cincinnati as the Reds’ hitting coach. This piles onto the Dodgers’ already existent coaching vacancies, with Chris Woodward taking the job of manager with the Texas Rangers after spending the past three seasons as the Dodgers third base coach.
Ward joined the Dodgers as the team’s hitting coach with the hiring of Dave Roberts in 2016. In that time, Ward coached the Dodgers’ hitters to three playoff appearances, including two National League pennant wins. Ward is credited as the hitting coach of the Dodgers’ roster who set the franchise’s single-season home run record in 2017 at 220 home runs, only to again eclipse the franchise total with 235 home runs in 2018.
Notably, Turner Ward was in his role with the Dodgers during Cody Bellinger’s rookie season, in which Bellinger set the National League record for home runs hit by a rookie in a single season. Ward also did great work on refining the approach of Yasiel Puig, making him arguably one of the Dodgers most feared hitters.
Woodward was a piece of the puzzle to Dave Roberts’ original team of coaches as well, signing his contract with the Dodgers in December of 2015. Woodward worked as the Dodgers’ infield coach for three seasons, bringing up and improving the defense of players like Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, and Max Muncy.
Chris Woodward does not have any MLB managerial experience under his belt, making the job in Texas with the Rangers his first taste of what it’s like to be an MLB manager. However, it is worth noting that Woodward managed the New Zealand squad in the most recent World Baseball Classic in 2016.
Both Turner Ward and Chris Woodward will receive their 2018 National League championship rings as members of the 2018 team. These will be the second ring each coach has received from the Dodgers.
Arrick Joel has covered the Dodgers since 2017, and for Dodgers-LowDown since 2018. Follow @ArrickJoel and @DodgersLowDown on Twitter for more.