The Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday announced their minor league coaching staffs for the 2024 season with Travis Barbary (Oklahoma City), Scott Hennessey (Tulsa), Jair Fernandez (Great Lakes), John Shoemaker (Rancho Cucamonga), Juan Apodaca (Arizona Complex League Dodgers), Dunior Zerpa and Leury Bonilla (Dominican Summer League Dodgers) all leading their respective squads.
The Los Angeles farm system returns five of their seven managers from last season, with Jair Fernandez taking over the High-A affiliate at Great Lakes after serving as the manager of the ACL Dodgers in 2023. Joining the fold in 2024 are Apodaca and Bonilla, who will manage the ACL and DSL Dodgers this season.
Apodaca, 37, played nine minor league seasons, reaching as high as Triple-A in 2013 with the Durham Bulls. He hit a combined .250 with 40 homers and 212 RBI. As a catcher, he played 14 additional seasons in the Venezuelan League and Mexican Leagues, amassing 52 homers and 316 RBI in 603 combined games. He began his professional career with the Boston Red Sox, signing as an international free agent in March 2010 out of Caracas, Venezuela.
Bonilla, 39, joins the team for his first season as a manager of the DSL Dodgers. The Dominican Republic native played 11 minor league seasons, hitting .256 with 42 homers and 284 RBI in 834 minor league games. During his last season with Triple-A Tacoma in 2015, he hit .250 with four homers and 21 RBI. He was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners in May 2009 as an international free agent.
Last season, the Dodger minor league affiliates recorded a combined .582 winning percentage (414-297), posting the best minor league winning percentage in all of baseball. Oklahoma City, Great Lakes, Rancho Cucamonga, ACL Dodgers, DSL Dodgers Bautista and DSL Dodgers Mega all made the playoffs last season, with Oklahoma City winning the Pacific Coast League Championship and the DSL Dodgers Bautista winning the Dominican Summer League.
It was the eighth straight season that the Dodger affiliates have posted a winning mark, and they are a combined 3,400-2,825 (.546) since their last losing season in 2013. The Dodgers were the only major league organization to have a combined 400 wins and are one of three organizations with six teams with a winning percentage above .500, with the others being the Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners.
In 2023, Michael Busch, Jonny DeLuca, Bryan Hudson, Kyle Hurt, Bobby Miller, Nick Robertson, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone, all made their MLB debuts for Los Angeles, and six of those eight players were signed or drafted by the Dodgers. James Outman finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year Award voting, compiling 23 homers and driving in 70 RBI in his first full season with the club.
(Juan Dorado furnished the information provided in this report)