Lino Díaz

Lino Díaz

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5'11", Weight 185
• School University of Nevada-Las Vegas

• Born July 22, 1970 in Ciudad de Panamá, Panama

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Lino Díaz moved from Panama to Altoona, PA when he was 17 under the auspices of the Central American Scholarship Program. He went on to play college baseball at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 30th Round of the 1993 Amateur Draft. He played in the Royals minor league system for five years, hitting .294/.352/.403 while primarily playing third base.

Diaz began his coaching career in 1998 as a player/coach with the Atlantic City Surf of the independent Atlantic League. He only stayed through the end of May because the Cincinnati Reds hired him to coach the Indianapolis Indians. He stayed with the Reds in 1999-2000 as a GCL Reds coach. In 2001 he joined the Kansas City Royals organization as a manager for the GCL Royals. He was slated to return to the team in 2002, but the Cleveland Indians hired him away for a new role.

He served as the Coordinator of Cultural Development for the Indians in 2002-2003. From 2004-2006 he was Cleveland's Assistant Director of Player Development, Latin American Operations before earning a promotion to Director of Latin American Operations for the 2007-2009 seasons. He returned to the role of Coordinator of Cultural Development in 2010-2012. Diaz moved to the Chicago White Sox in 2013 as their Manager of Cultural Development and he remained in that position for two years. During this time he assisted players such as Jose Quintana and Jose Abreu acclimate to playing baseball in the U.S.

Diaz finally returned to the coaching ranks in 2015-2016 as a GCL Yankees 2 defensive coach. In 2017 he moved up to the Trenton Thunder in a similar capacity before managing a second time in 2018 with the Staten Island Yankees. Diaz returned to a defensive coach position for the GCL Yankees West in 2019. He was slated to return in 2020 before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the minor league season. He was then a coach for the FCL Yankees in 2021 and a defensive coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2022 and Tampa Tarpons in 2023.

He coached for Panama in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He is the brother of Einar Diaz.

Year-By-Year Minor League Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2001	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	20-40	13th (t)	Kansas City Royals
2018	Staten Island Yankees	New York-Penn League	37-36	7th	New York Yankees