Meet the Diamondbacks' Impressive minor league Coaching Staff

The Amarillo Sod Poodles Double-AA coaching staff

The Amarillo Sod Poodles are entering their 2nd year as the Double-AA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They didn't do great last year, but they really helped our prospects grow as players. It's no secret that many of our prospects ended up in Double-AA or advanced to Reno like Alek Thomas.

Entering his 2nd straight year as manager of the Sod Poodles is Shawn Roof. It's his 7th year in the Dbacks organization. He's a 2-time minor league manager of the year and is only 37 years old. In his managerial career, he's 234-174. Those are pretty good numbers.

Shawn is a former minor league player himself. He played 6 years in the minors with the Detroit Tigers, reaching Double-AA before retiring in 2012.

The Sod Poodles' pitching coach is Shane Loux. This will be Loux's 6th year in the Diamondbacks system. However, this will be his first year out at Amarillo. Last year, he was the pitching coach for the Hillsboro Hops. He was given a large amount of credit for helping pitchers Matt Tabor, Bryce Jarvis, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Drey Jameson, and Luis Frias excel last year. Now, the majority of those pitchers will be in Double-AA where he can continue to work with them.

Shane is a former MLB pitcher with the Giants. He won the 2012 World Series with the Giants. Additionally, he's from Gilbert. Keep up the good work Shane!

Travis Denker is Amarillo's hitting coach. This is his 2nd year with Amarillo after helping hitters like Buddy Kennedy and Alek Thomas grow a ton last year. Denker has been with the Diamondbacks organization for 4 years and this will be his 5th. He's a former Diamondbacks' minor league player as well.

Javier Colina is the team's coach. it's his 9th year in the organization. In 2019, he led Hillsboro Hops to the High-A championship. Logan Jones is the team's strength and conditioning coach. Damon Reed is the team's trainer.