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Friday, March 5, 2021

Jay Loviglio assessed talent over long minors coaching career; Saw bigs as player


Rockies prospect Scott Randall went up to AAA in 1999 and struggled. Back at AA Carolina, his manager Jay Loviglio figured out what went wrong, according to The Raleigh News and Observer.

"I could see where the problems were that he was having in Triple-A," Loviglio told The News and Observer. "He was a little bit tentative, cutting off a lot of his pitches. That usually comes with lack of success, a lack of confidence."

Loviglio assessed Randall that year in the midst of a long career assessing talent in the minors, and after his own playing career took him to the majors over four seasons.

He played in 46 total major league games, then saw a minor league coaching and managing career that spanned a quarter century.

Loviglio's career in baseball began in 1977, signed by the Phillies as a free agent out of Suffolk County Community College.

Loviglio started with the Phillies at single-A Spartanburg and short-season Auburn. He made AA Reading in 1979, then AAA Oklahoma City and Philadelphia in 1980.

He debuted in the majors with the Phillies in September 1980. He got into 16 games and went 0 for 5 at the plate. He moved to the White Sox for 1981 and 1982. He saw 14 games his first year there and 15 in his second.

He scored the tie-breaking run in an early September game, running in from second on an infield hit, UPI wrote.

"I didn't know what was going on," Loviglio told UPI afterward. "I just kept running. I thought the ball was going through and I got a good jump from second base. I was going to score."

Loviglio then saw one final major league game in 1983, with the Cubs

By 1986, he'd started his coaching career. He served as manager that year at short-season Geneva, then moved to single-A Winston-Salem for three seasons. He arrived at AA Charlotte as a coach to start 1990, before taking over as manager mid-year.

He turned roving infield instructor for 1992. He managed at single-A Augusta in 1996, served as hitting coach at AA New Haven in 1997 and managed at high-A Salem for 1998.

In 2000, he managed at single-A Hickory. He watched as an opposing pitcher with a high leg kick allowed his team to run in an April game, The Greensboro News and Record wrote.

"That made him go to a slide step and he didn't throw strikes from that, so we took advantage it," Loviglio told The News and Record. "If he throws strikes from the slide step, he shuts us down."

He's credited as managing at high-A Lynchburg in 2004, then next as hitting coach at independent Long Island in 2011 and 2012.

Loviglio has also served as varsity head coach at Central Islip High and, continuing in 2021, he serves as an instructor at Pro Game Athletics in Bay Shore, NY.

1990 Minor League Tally
Players/Coaches Featured:3,592
Made the Majors:1,244-34.6%
Never Made Majors:2,348-65.4%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:517
10+ Seasons in the Minors:305

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