Former Dodger Catcher Hired as Coach with Detroit Tigers

Former Dodgers backup catcher Tim Federowicz has been hired as Detroit's catching coach after one season managing in the minor leagues.

Tim Federowicz spent five seasons in the Dodgers organization, from 2011-14 and 2021. He played in the big leagues with LA in each of the first four seasons, posting a 54 OPS+ in 271 plate appearances. Federowicz spent most of his eight-year MLB career as organizational depth who would occasionally get called up when a catcher went down with injury.

The 35-year-old Federowicz last played in the big leagues with the Rangers in 2019. He played in the minors with Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2021, but he missed time with an injury and to play in the Olympics in Tokyo. Los Angeles released him in September 2021, and three months later he announced his retirement along with an announcement that he'd be managing the Mariners' Triple-A team in Tacoma in 2022.

Now, Federowicz is back in the big leagues.

Tigers Hire Tim Federowicz As Catching Coach https://t.co/KBuoYfcRsa pic.twitter.com/2It18wWYNx

— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) January 19, 2023

After just a year of coaching in the minors, Federowicz joins Detroits big-league coaching staff. He'll get almost as much playing time as a coach as he did as a player — he had just 443 plate appearances across eight big-league seasons. But there's a reason a catcher who can't hit sticks around as long as Federowicz did in professional baseball, and that's because he knows how to catch and how to communicate with ballplayers.

Many big-league managers and coaches are former catchers, and a lot of the time, they weren't great players. Bruce Bochy spent nine years as a backup catchers. Bob Melvin played 10 years in the big leagues and never had more than 318 plate appearances in a season. The list goes on and on.

Federowicz always felt like a guy who would end up in coaching; congratulations to him on making it to the big leagues so quickly!