Darren Balsley

Darren Wayne Balsley

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 205 lb.
• School Palomar College
• High School Mt. Carmel High School

• Born October 27, 1964 in Newport Beach, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Darren Balsley was drafted by the Oakland A's in the 3rd round of the January 1984 amateur draft. He played several seasons in the Athletics (1984-1986) and Toronto Blue Jays (1987-1989) organizations.

After his playing career ended, he was a minor league coach, manager, and scout. Balsley remained with the Blue Jays organization and was pitching coach for the St. Catharines Blue Jays (1990), Myrtle Beach Hurricanes (1991-1992), and Hagerstown Suns (1993). After the latter season he coached pitchers on the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League. Balsley turned to managing for a short period as manager of the Medicine Hat Blue Jays in 1994-1995. He spent the 1995/1996 offseason managing the Sydney Blues in the Australian Baseball League. Balsely returned to coaching pitchers with Hagerstown in 1996 followed by the Dunedin Blue Jays in 1997. Balsley started the 1998 season as the Blue Jays major league advance scout, but took over as pitching coach of the Knoxville Smokies on June 6th (AKA as D-Day for history buffs). He returned to Knoxville in 1999.

In 2000 Balsley joined the San Diego Padres player development system as pitching coach for the Fort Wayne Wizards. He was pitching coach for the Lake Elsinore Storm in 2001 and Mobile BayBears in 2002. Balsley returned to Mobile in 2003 before the Padres promoted him to the major league staff on May 17th to replace Greg Booker. He continued as the Padres pitching coach through the 2019 when he was let go alongside manager Andy Green. The Padres hired Larry Rothschild to replace Balsley. Padres pitchers had considerable success under Balsley's leadership. From 2004-2018 the Padres posted a 3.98 ERA, the seventh-best mark in baseball in that span and fifth-best among National League teams.

After his departure as pitching coach, it was expected that Balsley would spend the 2020 season as a special assistant working with Padres' minor leaguers since he was still under contract for 2020. It is unclear if this actually happened.

Year-By-Year Minor League Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
1994	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	39-39	4th	Toronto Blue Jays
1995	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	35-37	4th	Toronto Blue Jays	Lost League Finals

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