Rick Honeycutt has been the Dodgers pitching coach under four different Dodgers managers but now, after 14 seasons in the role, he’s hanging up his cleats for, um, whatever shoes a front office special assistant wears. Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told reporters today that Honeycutt is stepping down as pitching coach and that bullpen coach Mark Prior will take over as the club’s pitching coach.
Honeycutt took over as Dodgers pitching coach in 2006 after spending time as the team’s minor league pitching coordinator. He became famous, of course, during his 21-year big league career which saw him reach the postseason in seven different seasons with three different teams. He took home a World Series ring in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics.
Prior, who you’ll remember as a Cubs phenom-turned-cautionary tale about young pitchers’ health, has spent the past several years immersing himself in baseball operations, first for the Padres and then with the Dodgers. He was San Diego’s minor league pitching coordinator for three seasons and then he was hired by the Dodgers as their bullpen coach prior to the 2018 season.