SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Mark Grace will return to the D-backs' broadcasting team in 2017 as part of the pre- and postgame shows on FOX Sports Arizona.
Grace served as Arizona's assistant hitting coach each of the past two seasons, but his contract was not renewed after manager Chip Hale and general manager Dave Stewart were dismissed following the 2016 campaign.
"It's never easy," Grace said. "But that's the way baseball is. When changes are made in the front office, obviously they're going to bring their people in that they know and they trust. I know if I was ever a manager, I would want to bring in my own guys. Baseball has been doing that for a century. It's part of the game."
Grace was analyst on D-backs broadcasts from 2004-12, before losing his position following a pair of drunk-driving arrests.
Grace was not away for long, as he spent the 2013 season working with the Rookie-level Arizona League team and the '14 campaign with the short-season Hillsboro Hops.
"It'll be good," Grace said of his new role. "Keeps you around, keeps you seen, keeps you heard and keeps you around the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is the organization that I really love."