Former Slugger Named Hitting Coach at Santo Domingo

[MikeB]

San Juan has announced that 36-year old former Coqui first baseman Richie Norman has been hired to be the hitting coach at the team’s AAA affiliate in Santo Domingo.

For the second time in recent memory the Coqui had an exodus of minor league coaches at season’s end. Whether due to an organizational cleaning house or whether an unreliable fax machine wasn’t replaced from the last snafu, team officials aren’t saying.

In either case, the team saw an opportunity to get someone to work with several power hitters working their way through the organization. Norman’s 120 home runs in his seven seasons with the organization make him the career leader since the franchise left Japan for the PEBA.

“We aren’t a team geared toward the long ball - Richie knows that as much as anyone about our ballpark,” said San Juan General Manager Mike Best. “But we do have a lot of guys coming up with a power stroke - Davis, Adamczak, Ishikawa and further down, Lopes, Lortie and Torres - and the hope is he can teach at least one of them to better his mark.”

In his own greeting with reporters, however, Norman indicated his approach to hitting is more universal and not solely based on developing power.

During his playing years, Norman and San Juan had an uncertain relationship, the team often hitting him third or fourth but constantly searching for a better solution. A series of one and two-year contracts saw Norman never make more than $3.6 million in a given year. He even sat out the 2027 season unwanted in free agency before San Juan brought him back in 2028.

But he did have plenty of highlights as a player. After growing up a farm worker in Salinas, Calif., the 6’3” 280-pounder hit .360 over two seasons at Rutgers before being drafted by Aurora in 2015. He he won a ring with the Borealis as a bit player in 2020 before being shipped to Rio Grande (now San Juan) along with John Dickson for a first and second pick. That first pick turned into catcher Manny Castro.

Finally getting a chance to play regularly, he hit a career high .320 in 2021 and would later add .299 and .292 seasons. Along the way he also collected an All-Leather award at first base, three Player of the Week honors and put together a 20-game hit streak. A solid RBI man, he is the franchise’s all-team leader with 423 and once led the league in sacrifice flies.

He ended his career with Manchester in 2029, hitting .273.

Not counting his minor league years with Aurora, it is estimated he made less than $16 million over his career.

“I still have to work for a living,” quipped Norman.