Ernesto Irizarry

Ernesto Irizarry

• School Joliet Junior College, Roosevelt University

• Born September 15, 1989

Biographical Information

Ernesto Irizarry began his college career at Joliet Junior College and won a NJCAA Division III Baseball World Series title with the team in 2008. Irizarry earned All-Region honors in the 2010 season. He completed his college education at Roosevelt University where he went into the record books for hitting the first home run in school history. Irizarry graduated in 2013 with a degree in criminal justice. He returned to Roosevelt in 2017-2018 where he earned his MBA.

After his graduation, Irizarry worked as the bullpen catcher for the Windy City ThunderBolts of the independent Frontier League. Not giving up on playing, in 2014 he joined the Los Patrulleros de San Sebastian in La Liga Béisbol Superior Doble A de Puerto Rico and played with them until retiring in 2016.

While working on his MBA, Irizarry served as a volunteer assistant coach at Roosevelt in 2018. He spent the summer of 2018 as hitting coach for the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders in the Northwoods League.

Irizarry moved into the professional baseball coaching ranks with the Houston Astros in 2019. He was the hitting coach for the DSL Astros that year. The Astros promoted him to hitting coach of the Tri-City ValleyCats in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Irizarry was hitting coach for the DSL Pirates Gold in 2021 and development coach of the FCL Pirates in 2022-2023. The following year the Pirates named him the Integrated Baseball Performance Coach for the Bradenton Marauders.

Sources

• Hitting, Pitching & Defense