Craig Conklin

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Craig Conklin

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Biographical Information[edit]

Craig Conklin was a scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau from 1999 to 2015. Before that, he had served in the military, recovered from a drug addiction, and lived out of his car for a stretch, among other hardships. He had grown up in Malibu, CA in a broken home, living the life of a surfer bum while also developing a passion for baseball. Still, he got cut from his junior college team two years in a row, moved to San Diego, CA for a spell, then returned home where he was basically destitute. he did manage to make the JuCo team on his third try, then served with the 101st Airborne in Kentucky after his girlfriend got pregnant, as this got him a more secure paycheck then he could have earned playing baseball, but was discharged three years later when his father became terminally ill. After kicking his drug habit, he returned to his alma mater as a coach while working various odd jobs. That's when he befriended some scouts who helped him get into the major league scouting development program.

He joined the Oakland Athletics organization as an area scout for southern California after the scouting bureau disbanded, a position he held through 2018. In addition to scouting for the A's, Conklin was a coach for the 2016 Beloit Snappers and the 2018 Stockton Ports. He decided to get into coaching after the death of his 27-year-old daughter, Jordan, in a car crash. She was the only person who kept him tethered to a place while he was on the road full-time as a scout, and he said that he realized he now needed to find a new way to become grounded.

Conklin turned to coaching full-time in 2019 as a coach for the Las Vegas Aviators. In 2020 he was scheduled to coach the Snappers again before the minor league season was shut down due to COVID-19. Conklin returned to Stockton in 2021 as an assistant hitting coach. He worked in the same role in 2022 with the Lansing Lugnuts. The A's promoted Conklin to manager of the Lugnuts in 2023. After the season he coached for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. Conklin again managed the Lugnuts in 2024.

Year-By-Year Managerial Record[edit]

Year Team League Record Finish Organization Playoffs
2023 Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League 60-71 9th Oakland Athletics
2024 Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League 59-72 9th (t) Oakland Athletics

Further Reading[edit]

  • Benjamin Hill: "How a career in professional baseball saved this Minor League manager", mlb.com, November 7, 2024. [1]

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