Richard A. Knapp (born December 11, 1961) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitching coach for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He was previously a pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers. Knapp served as the Tigers pitching coach from 2008 until midway through the 2011 season.

Career

Knapp previously served as the minor league pitching coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. Knapp pitched five seasons in the Minor Leagues for the Texas Rangers organization. Knapp attended

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

and was selected in the 41st round of the

1983 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1983 Major League Baseball draft. ''*'' Did not sign Compensation picks Other notable players *Bill Swift, 2nd round, 29th overall by the Minnesota Twins, but did not ...

. Knapp was hired by the Tigers in 2008 to replace Chuck Hernandez. He was relieved of his duties with the Detroit Tigers on July 3, 2011. Knapp was named minor league pitching coordinator by the Kansas City Royals on September 28, 2011. He joined the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

organization for the 2013 season as their assistant minor league pitching coordinator. He was promoted to full minor league pitching coordinator in 2015. At the conclusion of the 2016 season he left the Dodgers to assume a new post as International Pitching Coordinator for Major League Baseball. In 2018, Knapp returned to coaching as the pitching coach for the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

, the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

affiliate of the

. The Rays promoted Knapp to assistant pitching coach on their major league roster for the 2022 season.

References

External links

1961 births Burlington Rangers players Detroit Tigers coaches Gulf Coast Rangers players Living people Major League Baseball pitching coaches Oklahoma City 89ers players Salem Redbirds players Tulsa Drillers players Tampa Bay Rays coaches {{US-baseball-bio-stub