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Sunday, February 4, 2024

Mark Farnsworth helped keep players healthy over decades

Mark Farnsworth 1990 Baseball City card

The Reds looked to improve through their farm system in 2000 and to do so, they needed healthy arms, organization player development director Billy Doran told The Cincinnati Enquirer that July.

Among the personnel he praised for ensuring they stayed healthy was minor league head trainer Mark Farnsworth.

"The medical staff has really done a good job with that," Doran told The Enquirer. "If there's a better staff, I haven't seen it. Dr. (Tim) Kremchek deserved a lot of credit. He and Mark Farnsworth have done a great job. That's something that's really improved the last two years or so."

Farnsworth joined the Reds out of the Royals system, where he served as a team trainer, part of a minor league training career that began in the late 1970s.

Farnsworth started out of the University of Missouri, graduating in 1977. He then got a master's in education from the University of Arizona.

He first served as a trainer in high school and college, then joined the Phillies system in 1979. By 1983, he was with the Royals at single-A Charleston.

By 1985, he was trainer at single-A Fort Myers, helping the team stay healthy enough to win the league title. He recalled to The Fort Myers News-Press years later how the team celebrated: At the local Bennigan's.

"It was real late. We celebrated and that was it," Farnsworth told The News-Press. "That's pretty typical because there's so much turnover player wise. ... The nature of baseball is if you're good you're supposed to move up."

Farnsworth served as trainer at high-A Baseball City for 1990, then AAA Omaha for 1991. He stayed with Omaha through at least 1997, winning the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society 1994 Trainer of the Year award.

He then joined the Reds, becoming the team's head minor league trainer. For 2006, he became Reds minor league administrator.

Mark Farnsworth 1990 Baseball City card


1990 Minor League Tally 
Players/Coaches Featured:4,303
Made the Majors:1,393-32.4%
Never Made Majors:2,910-67.6%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:567
10+ Seasons in the Minors:349

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