Gary Cathcart

From BR Bullpen

GaryCathcart.jpg

Gary John Cathcart

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Gary Cathcart was selected by the New York Yankees in the 33rd round of the 1984 amateur draft. He played five seasons in the minors, all in the Yankees organization, and advanced as high as the AAA Columbus Clippers in 1987. Cathcart played his final season with the Albany-Colonie Yankees in 1988 and settled in that area afterwards. Overall he hit .234/.331/.313 while appearing in 410 games.

Cathcart was out of baseball for twelve years and looked for opportunities to get back into the game. His first chance came in 2000 when he was hired as the third base coach for the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs under manager Mike Marshall. He then served as an assistant coach with the University of Albany Great Danes in 2002. He returned to the Diamond Dogs as a bench coach in 2002.

The Toronto Blue Jays hired Cathcart in 2003 as the hitting coach for the Dunedin Blue Jays. He was skipper of the Pulaski Blue Jays in 2004 and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats hitting coach in 2005-2006. He became manager of the Lansing Lugnuts in 2007 and led the team to a franchise-record 78 victories. That earned him Toronto's Bobby Mattick Award, recognizing dedication and excellence in player development. In 2008-2009 Cathcart returned to the Fisher Cats as their manager. After the 2009 season, he also managed the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League.

In 2010 he moved to the Washington Nationals organization managing the Potomac Nationals. From 2011-2015 he managed the A Short-Season Auburn Doubledays. He pulled double duty in 2012-2015 while also serving as the Nationals Coordinator of Instruction. At the end of the 2015 season the Miami Marlins hired him as their outfield and baserunning coordinator. Just a few months later they promoted him to Minor League Field Coordinator and he served in that capacity for the 2016-2017 seasons. It appears he retained outfield and baserunning coordinator responsibilities for those years also as no other Marlins staff member is mentioned in that role.

The Detroit Tigers hired Cathcart in 2017 to manage the GCL Tigers West squad. However, just eight days before the season began in June, they assigned him to manage the Connecticut Tigers instead. He did actually manage the Gulf Coast League team in 2019. He was scheduled to manage the Norwich Sea Unicorns in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic caused the minor league season to be cancelled. In 2021 Cathcart managed the FCL Tigers East in the newly christened Florida Complex League.

Cathcart moved to the Philadelphia Phillies' organization as bench coach of the Clearwater Threshers in 2022 with a dual responsibility of minor league baserunning coordinator. He was the FCL Phillies bench coach in 2023-2024.

Played on a National PONY League champion and hit four home runs in an American Legion Baseball game.

Year-By-Year Managerial Record[edit]

Year Team League Record Finish Organization Playoffs
2004 Pulaski Blue Jays Appalachian League 40-27 3rd Toronto Blue Jays
2007 Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League 78-61 3rd (t) Toronto Blue Jays Lost in 1st round
2008 New Hampshire Fisher Cats Eastern League 61-81 11th Toronto Blue Jays
2009 New Hampshire Fisher Cats Eastern League 64-78 10th Toronto Blue Jays
2010 Potomac Nationals Carolina League 70-69 5th Washington Nationals League Champs
2011 Auburn Doubledays New York-Penn League 45-30 3rd Washington Nationals Lost League Finals
2012 Auburn Doubledays New York-Penn League 46-30 3rd Washington Nationals Lost in 1st round
2013 Auburn Doubledays New York-Penn League 26-49 14th Washington Nationals
2014 Auburn Doubledays New York-Penn League 34-41 9th Washington Nationals
2015 Auburn Doubledays New York-Penn League 36-38 9th Washington Nationals
2018 Connecticut Tigers New York-Penn League 29-44 14th Detroit Tigers
2019 GCL Tigers West Gulf Coast League 30-20 3rd Detroit Tigers
2021 FCL Tigers East Florida Complex League 19-32 15th Detroit Tigers

Related Sites[edit]