Red Sox to interview Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta for managerial vacancy
The Red Sox have been granted permission to interview Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta for their managerial vacancy, according to a major league source. While the interview has not yet occurred, Urueta becomes the first known external candidate to interview for the Red Sox job that opened in mid-January with the departure of Alex Cora.
Urueta, a 39-year-old native of Colombia, has a wide variety of experiences in the game. Though he grew up imagining a soccer career, according to a profile by La Vida Baseball, countryman Edgar Renteria’s game-winning, walkoff single in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series led Urueta to reimagine his future.
He had a five-year minor-league career in the Diamondbacks and Cardinals organizations, then spent four years playing in Italy. He served as a coach, manager, and coordinator in the Diamondbacks minor league system from 2008-17, then joined Torey Lovullo’s big league staff as a coach in 2018.
Urueta also has experience as a winter league manager in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
He managed Colombia in the World Baseball Classic, and he served as GM for Tigers del Licey in the Dominican Winter League in the 2017-18 offseason – an array of experiences that allows him to relate to players, coaches/managers, and front-office members. Many around the Diamondbacks credited Urueta with having a significant role in the development of Ketel Marte into an MVP candidate with Arizona.
Urueta is described as bright and personable, and even before his elevation to bench coach this winter, Lovullo often picked his brain about strategy. He’s been a hot name in the coaching world for some time, and the Diamondbacks promoted him to bench coach for the 2020 season in part because they feared that he’d be hired elsewhere if they didn’t elevate him. (Indeed, the Rays – when current Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was still there – tried to interview him about joining their coaching staff after the 2018 season.)
News of Urueta’s interview with the Red Sox was first reported by ESPNDeportes.com.
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