Last week it was announced that the Cincinnati Reds were bringing back the entire coaching staff under Terry Francona from 2025 for the 2026 season. That isn’t going to be the case, though. While that may have been the intention for the front office, the Reds are losing third base coach J.R. House to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that House is being hired by the Diamondbacks to serve as their new third base coach.
J.R. House joined the Cincinnati Reds organization in November of 2018 as the team’s new third base coach and catching coach. He remained the catching coach from 2019-2022, but has served as just the third base coach (at least in title) since the 2023 season. His 7-year run as the team’s third base coach is the longest since Mark Berry held down the job from 2004-2013. It’s the second longest tenure of a third base coach since at least the mid-60’s for the Reds, which is when I can last find data for the job.
For House, he’s returning to where he got his post playing career started. He was a manager, hitting coach, and minor league field coordinator (at different times) with the Arizona farm system from 2012 through 2018. It’s also a return home as Phoenix is where he and his family reside, and where his family stays year round.
Randy Wynne elects free agency
The Cincinnati Reds also lost a little bit of pitching depth this week. Randy Wynne elected free agency and is going to see what’s out there for him. The right-handed pitcher has spent two stints with the Reds at the big league level in his career. He was an undrafted free agent signing when he was 26-years-old back in 2019. He worked his way up through the farm system and made his big league debut at age 30 with the Reds. His outing against Atlanta on June 25th or 2023 saw him allow one run in 2.1 innings. That was his only outing with the club until this past season when he got the call to pitch in April and he took the mound on the 20th in Baltimore and picked up a 3-inning save in a game that Cincinnati won 24-2.
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