Jim Bennett (minors02)

James A. Bennett

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.

• School Chapman University
• High School Garden Grove High School

• Born June 11, 1966 in Fullerton, CA USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Jim Bennett was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Mariners in 1988. He was 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA for the AZL Red Sox/Mariners that summer. He had a 6-12, 4.02 record for the 1989 Wausau Timbers, leading Mariners farmhands in losses and tying for 4th in the Midwest League. In 1990, he lost his first 8 games for the Charleston Rainbows en route to a 5-15, 3.06 finish, despite only 27 walks and two homers in 150 IP. He was also briefly with the San Bernardino Spirit (2 R, 1 ER in 5 1/3 IP). Part of his problem was that Charleston was a last-place 46-96 squad; his 3.06 ERA clearly marked him as the ace of the rotation; the staff ERA was 4.34. He still tied for second in the South Atlantic League in losses. He finished his minor league career 13-28 but with a 3.54 ERA and just 73 walks in 310 IP. In 1991, Bennett pitched for Fiorentina in Italy's Serie A2, going 5-3 with a 1.23 ERA to complete the playing portion of his baseball career.

He then became a pitching coach in 1992, working with a number of organizations. Bennett started as the pitching coach for the Lethbridge Mounties which was an unaffiliated team in the Pioneer League. After one year, he joined the California Angels organization and worked as the pitching coach for the AZL Angels (1993-1994), Boise Hawks (1995-1996), Lake Elsinore Storm (1997), Cedar Rapids Kernels (1998), and Boise Hawks again in 1999. Bennett spent the next year in the Oakland Athletics organization as pitching coach of the Visalia Oaks. Moving on, he coached Colorado Rockies minor league pitchers for the Tri-City Dust Devils (2001), Asheville Tourists (2002), and Visalia again (2003-2004). Bennett was a pitching coach for the AZL Padres in 2005 and finished coaching in affiliated ball with the San Jose Giants in 2006-2007.

He then took some time off from professional coaching before returning to the ranks with the Perth Heat in the 2014-2015 Australian Baseball League. Bennett moved to the rival Brisbane Bandits from 2015-2016 through 2010-2019 as their pitching & bench coach. He was a member of five consecutive Claxton Shield winning teams in these years.

The next several years were split between coaching & managing in the United States and Australia. In 2019 Bennett managed the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and was awarded Manager of the Year honors by the American Association at season's end. After the season he coached again for Brisbane. Bennett's next U.S. job was with the Lake County Dockhounds. He was named the team's first manager in August 2021 and managed the team to a 34-66 record in their inaugural 2022 season. Bennett returned to the Dockhounds in 2023, but was dismissed on May 22nd along with two of his coaches (Mike Couchee and Bruce Hines) after a 2-6 start to the season. Beyond Dockhounds happenings, 2023 proved to be an interesting year. He finished the 2022-2023 season coaching with the Bandits. In the spring of 2023, Bennett was the pitching coach for Australia during the 2023 World Baseball Classic when the team advanced to the quarterfinals of the WBC for the first time. Finally, sometime after his dismissal from the Dockhounds, Bennett assumed pitching coach duties with the Spire City Ghost Hounds in the independent Atlantic League. Bennett returned to the ABL as manager of the Canberra Cavalry during the 2024-2025 season. During this period, he also coached for the Australian national team several times - in the 2019 Premier 12, 2023 World Baseball Classic, 2023 Asia Professional Baseball Championship and 2024 Premier 12.

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
2019	Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks	American Association	63-37	2nd	Independent
2022	Lake County Dockhounds	American Association	34-66	11th	Independent
2023	Lake County Dockhounds	American Association	2-6		Independent		Replaced by Paul Wagner on May 22

Sources

• Greatest 21 Days
• Italian Baseball Federation
• MILB.com