CINCINNATI -- The schedule makers did Torey Lovullo a big favor on Saturday.
Following a 2-1 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park, the Diamondbacks manager was able to scoot down 100 miles with his wife, Lynn, on I-71, and watch his son Nick do his work for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
No, 32-year-old Nick Lovullo is not playing in the Cubs’ farm system but rather coaching there, specifically serving as the bench coach for skipper Marty Pevey.
“Baseball gives you back these little gifts every once in a while,” Lovullo said. “So, my son is bench coaching for the Iowa Cubs, and they were playing in Louisville. So, immediately after the game, I did my little time with [media], and then hustled out of here and made it there by the fourth inning.”
Normally, it’s a great thing to celebrate for a Major League coach or manager to watch his son play. This was a little different, and Lovullo -- for a moment -- had a Freudian slip.
“My wife and I traveled to see our son Nick play, or I'm sorry, coach, and it was a great moment,” Lovullo said, “ and I'll never forget it. I was dad last night, had [ice cream], a hot dog, and watched the baseball game.”
Nick Lovullo played infield collegiately at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He was selected by Toronto in the 2012 MLB Draft, where dad was a coach for the Blue Jays, and by Boston in '15 and ‘16, where his dad served as bench coach under Red Sox skipper John Farrell, winning a World Series title in ‘13. Nick Lovullo played in the Boston system from 2016-19 before retiring from professional baseball in ‘21.
“It brings back some incredible memories,” Torey Lovullo said. “I've spent 10 years in player development and managing, and there's something special about that level and being a part of that. So it brought back great memories, but yeah, I was dad first, and it was a lot of fun for me to go there. I still had my clock on, trying to watch signs, pick signs, watch plays, talk about the strategies, go over it with my son postgame. Just trying to help each other improve.”
Did the senior Lovullo pick up signs?
“I did, as a matter of fact,” he said. “Yes, so I don't want to let it be known, but I picked off a couple. I picked off his team signs, so I said he got tightened down a little bit.”
Nick Lovullo was a manager for Single-A South Bend in 2024, and the father-son similarity was noticeable even then.
“It's hilarious. I have bad hips,” Torey said. “I gave him that gift, a funny walk with bad hips. There's a funny story that goes along with that. Robin Ventura was coaching in high school in California, up in Royal Grande. He was coaching against Nick's team, and he knew that Nick was on the team, and there's no names on the back. He said as soon as he saw him walking across the field, he's like, that's Torey’'s son right there. I know that's a Lovullo walk, so it's a blessing and a curse, but definitely the walks overlap for sure.”