Darnell Coles (born June 2, 1962) 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 professiona ...

player and current

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

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 (A ...

(MLB). He played in MLB and

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

primarily as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

from 1983 to 1997. He has coached in MLB since 2014.

Early life

Coles was a four-sport letterman and three time baseball MVP at Eisenhower High School.

Playing career

On June 3, 1980, Coles was drafted by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

in the first round (sixth pick) of the

1980 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players *Tim Teufel, 2nd round, 38th overall Minnesota Twins * Dan Plesac, 2nd round, 41st overall ...

. He turned down both a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

scholarship and a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

scholarship to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

to sign with the Mariners. In 1986, he hit a career-high 20

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He had two three-home run games in his career: in 1987 with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and in 1994 with the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Coaching career

In 2006, Coles was hired as the roving hitting instructor for the

organization. He was the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

of the

Vermont Lake Monsters The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont. From 1994 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL). They play their home games at Centennial Field, on ...

in 2007, and manager of the Class A

Hagerstown Suns The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They played their home ga ...

in 2008. On November 19, 2008, he was named the hitting coach for the Nationals Triple-A affiliate, the

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. On October 10, 2013, Coles was selected to manage the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Triple-A affiliate, the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music indus ...

, after previously managing the organization's Double-A

Huntsville Stars The Huntsville Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Huntsville, Alabama, from 1985 to 2014. They competed in the Southern League as the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics from 1985 to 1998 and Mil ...

from 2012 to 2013. However, on November 25, the Detroit Tigers announced the hiring of Coles as assistant hitting coach. On October 23, 2014, the Milwaukee Brewers announced Coles replaced

Johnny Narron John A. Narron, Jr. (born November 13, 1951) is an American professional baseball coach. He is the hitting coach for the Lynchburg Hillcats, the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He is a former hitting coach of the Milwaukee Brewers a ...

as the hitting coach. He resigned after the 2018 season and became the hitting coach for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

. On June 10, 2021, Coles was relieved of his position with the club. He was hired by the Washington Nationals to be their hitting coach following the 2021 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Darnell 1962 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Arizona Diamondbacks coaches Bakersfield Mariners players Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from California Bellingham Mariners players Calgary Cannons players Chattanooga Lookouts players Chunichi Dragons players Cincinnati Reds players Colorado Rockies players Detroit Tigers players Hanshin Tigers players Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball third basemen Milwaukee Brewers coaches Minor league baseball managers Nashville Sounds players People from Rialto, California Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Cardinals players Salt Lake City Gulls players San Francisco Giants players Seattle Mariners players Toronto Blue Jays players Wausau Timbers players African-American baseball managers Phoenix Firebirds players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople