Rick Schu

Richard Spencer Schu

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.
• School Sacramento City College
• High School Del Campo High School
• Debut September 1, 1984
• Final Game August 14, 1996
• Born January 26, 1962 in Philadelphia, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Rick Schu was signed as an amateur free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies and scout Eddie Bockman on November 25, 1980.

He first came up to the majors at the end of the 1984 season, when he hit .276 in 17 games and in 1985, the Phillies decided to move superstar Mike Schmidt to first base to open a spot for him in their line-up. The experiment was not a success, as he hit only .252 with little power in 112 games, while Schmidt, one of the best defensive third basemen of his time, had trouble adapting to his new position. In 1986, the Phillies reversed course, as he played just 58 games at third base (and 92 overall) and without the pressure of replacing Schmidt, he hit a lot better, finishing at .274 with 8 homers, his slugging percentage reaching .337 after having been .373 the previous year. However, this was a high-water mark for him: he fell to .235 in 1987, and after the season was traded to the Baltimore Orioles along with OFs Keith Hughes and Jeff Stone in return for OF Mike Young.

Schu was a starter on the Orioles team that set a major league record by losing its first 21 games in 1988. He hit .256 in 89 games that year - basically his career norms and early in the 1989 season was purchased by the Detroit Tigers for whom he hit .214 in 98 games. He was never a starter in the majors after that, even though he had a decent year with the California Angels in 1990, hitting .268 and slugging .433 in 61 games (but only 157 at-bats). He only made two brief stints in the majors after that, 17 games for the Phillies in 1991, when he went 2 for 22, and a single game for the Montreal Expos in 1996 (he was 0 for 4).

Schu was a coach for the South Bend Silver Hawks in 1998, High Desert Mavericks in 1999-2000, Lancaster JetHawks in 2001, and Tucson Sidewinders in 2002. He was minor league hitting coordinator of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003 and 2005-2007, and was hitting coach of the MLB Diamondbacks in 2004. He was named hitting coach of the Diamondbacksin 2007 after the All-Star Game, replacing Kevin Seitzer. On May 8, 2009 Schu was fired by the Diamondbacks, along with manager Bob Melvin. In 2010, he became the minor league hitting coordinator for the Washington Nationals. On July 22, 2013, he was promoted to hitting coach of the Nationals, replacing the fired Rick Eckstein. On October 5, 2015, Schu was fired by the Nationals along with manager Matt Williams and the rest of the coaching staff, but on November 18th, he was brought back on board for 2016 by new manager Dusty Baker. He stayed on board until the end of the 2017 season, but was fired at the same time as Baker when the Nats were eliminated in the Division Series. He then moved to the San Francisco Giants, serving as a coach in 2018 and 2019.

Schu's father, Ken Schu, was a minor league pitcher in 1955.

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