Darryl Kennedy
James Darryl Kennedy
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.
- Schools Manatee Community College, University of North Florida
- Born January 23, 1969 in Haines City, FL USA
Biographical Information[edit]
1991-1997[edit]
Catcher Darryl Kennedy was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 37th round of the 1991 amateur draft. He spent six seasons in their farm system, before ending his career in the San Francisco Giants organization, making it as far as AAA (where he hit .307 in 1996). For his seven year minor league career, Kennedy hit .251/.324/.334 while appearing in 471 games.
1998-present[edit]
After retiring Kennedy began a long career managing in the minor leagues, first in the Texas Rangers organization and then with the Kansas City Royals. Kennedy's managerial record is detailed below. In his early years with the Rangers his teams were very successful, making the playoffs in each of his first six seasons. During this run he won league championships in the Gulf Coast League (twice), Florida State League, and Northwest League. Though some of his later teams made the playoffs, he did not win any more championships after 2003. In his 22 seasons as a manager, Kennedy compiled a record of 1,016-955.
In addition to his managing, Kennedy coached briefly with the major league club when he spent three weeks with the Royals in September 2011 after rosters expanded. Kennedy's last year of managing was in 2019 with the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals. In 2020, one source indicated that Kennedy was a minor league fielding coordinator for the Royals. However, he was not listed as such when the Royals announced their minor league coaches and coordinators prior to the season.
Starting in 2021, Kennedy worked as a bench coach for the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). In an effort to rebuild the Eagles, management brought four American coaches onboard - manager Carlos Subero, Kennedy, hitting coach Johnny Washington, and pitching coach Jose Rosado. Washington returned to the U.S. after one season. The attempt to rebuild was unsuccessful and Subero, Kennedy, and Rosado were all fired on May 11, 2023.
Kennedy returned to the U.S. and joined the Oakland Athletics organization in 2024 as an assistant hitting coach for the Midland RockHounds.
In addition to his U.S. and South Korea endeavors, Kennedy has considerable experience coaching in the Venezuelan League. This list might not be complete.
- 2006/2007 Bench coach Leones del Caracas
- 2007/2008 - 2008/2009 Bench coach Tiburones de La Guaira
- 2010/2011 - 2011/2012 Bench coach Tiburones
- Start - 11/16/2015 Manager Águilas del Zulia
- 2016/2017 Bench coach Bravos de Margarita
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