John Farrell (baseball manager)
John Edward Farrell (born August 4, 1962) is an American former baseball pitcher, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). During his eight-season playing career, Farrell was a member of the Cleveland Indians, California Angels, and Detroit Tigers. He was the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox from 2007 to 2010, before serving as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2011 to 2012. He returned to the Red Sox as their manager in 2013, winning the World Series with them in his first year, and led the team until 2017. Since 2018, he has held a scouting position with the Cincinnati Reds.
John Farrell
36–46
4.56
355
586–548
.517
Playing career[edit]
Amateur[edit]
Farrell grew up in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey,[1] and was a star pitcher for Shore Regional High School. Upon graduating from high school in 1980, Farrell was drafted by the Oakland Athletics, but he did not sign.[2] He played college baseball for Oklahoma State, where he had a 20–6 record for his four-year career.[1] In 1982, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[3] After graduating from Oklahoma State, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the second round of the 1984 Draft.
Professional[edit]
Farrell made his major league debut with the Indians on August 18, 1987,[4] playing for them until the 1990 season. He enjoyed success as part of the Cleveland starting rotation, but injuries to his right elbow caused him to miss the entire 1991 and 1992 seasons. He returned to action with the California Angels (1993–94), again with Cleveland (1995), and finished his career with the Detroit Tigers (1996).
Broadcasting[edit]
In March 2018, it was announced that Farrell would join ESPN's Baseball Tonight as an analyst, in time for the start of the regular season.[19] He has also appeared as an analyst on Fox Major League Baseball during the 2019 season.[20]
Personal life[edit]
Farrell's father, Tom, pitched in the Cleveland Indians farm system in the 1950s until an injury ended his baseball career.[21]
As of the 2019 baseball season, Farrell spends 10 days a month working as a minor league pitching scout for the Cincinnati Reds, and at other times works lobster fishing near Ipswich, Massachusetts, on his boat Seaweed.[22]
Farrell has three sons, all of whom were selected in the MLB Draft. Jeremy, an infielder, played college baseball at Virginia, then was in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system from 2008 through 2012, and in the Chicago White Sox system from 2013 through 2015.[23][24] Shane, a right-handed pitcher out of Marshall, was taken in the 46th round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, and then worked for the Chicago Cubs in their baseball operations department.[25][26] His youngest, Luke, a Northwestern right-hander, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the sixth round of the 2013 draft and has pitched in MLB for the Royals, Reds, Cubs and Twins. In 2018, two of Farrell's sons worked in the Cubs organization: Shane as an area scout, Jeremy as the Assistant Director of Baseball Development.[27] Shane was named Amateur Scouting Director for the Blue Jays before the 2020 season.[28]