Red Sox Announce Updates to Major League Coaching Staff

October 31st, 2019

BOSTON, MA—The Boston Red Sox today announced the following updates to the major league coaching staff:

  • Dave Bush has been promoted to Pitching Coach.
  • Kevin Walker has been promoted to Assistant Pitching Coach.
  • Peter Fatse has been named Assistant Hitting Coach.

In addition, Rey Fuentes has been hired as Mental Skills Coordinator.

Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom and Manager Alex Cora made the announcement.

Bush, 39, served as Pitching Coordinator, Performance for the Red Sox in 2019 after spending the 2016-18 seasons with the club as Pitching Development Analyst. The former right-handed pitcher played parts of nine seasons in the major leagues, going 56-69 with a 4.73 ERA in 211 games (187 starts) for the Toronto Blue Jays (2004-05, ’13), Milwaukee Brewers (2006-10), and Texas Rangers (2011). He also pitched for the SK Wyverns of the Korean Baseball Organization in 2012. Prior to joining the Red Sox, Bush spent two years coaching at Maine’s Bridgton Academy, in addition to coaching overseas through MLB International, serving as the pitching coach for the Chinese and South African national teams.

After graduating from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, PA, Bush attended Wake Forest University and pitched for the Deacons for four years before graduating in 2002. A standout relief pitcher, he went 15-8 with program records of 38 saves and 142 pitching appearances. In 2014 he was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.

Walker, 43, has spent the past 11 seasons (2009-19) as a pitching coach in the Red Sox organization, most recently serving in that role for Triple-A Pawtucket in 2018 and 2019. He previously worked with Double-A Portland (2015-17), High-A Salem (2011-14), Single-A Greenville (2010), and Short-A Lowell (2009). Walker began coaching after a 14-year playing career from 1995-2008.

Selected by San Diego in the sixth round of the 1995 June Draft, Walker went 7-3 with a 4.76 ERA in 122 major league games for the Padres (2000-03), San Francisco Giants (2004), and Chicago White Sox (2005). The left-hander also pitched in the minor league systems of the Texas Rangers (2006) and Colorado Rockies (2007), and from 2007-08 he pitched for Camden of the independent Atlantic League. A Texas native, Walker graduated from Grand Prairie High School.

Fatse, 32, spent the 2019 season as the Minnesota Twins’ Minor League Hitting Coordinator, his first season in a coaching role with a major league club. He founded Advanced Performance Academy, LLC in 2010 and has spent the past nine years as its director of player development, training hitters from the youth level to the major league ranks.

Born in Holyoke, MA, Fatse graduated in 2006 from Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, MA. He attended the University of Connecticut and played three seasons with the Huskies before being selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 24th round of the 2009 June Draft. Fatse spent two years in the Brewers minor league system as a utility player (2009-10) before playing in independent leagues from 2011-12.

Fuentes, 40, spent the last seven years in the Chicago Cubs organization, including the past five as the Latin Coordinator of the mental skills program. He began his career with the Cubs as a Cultural Programs Coordinator.

A native of Miami, Fuentes is a 2002 graduate of Barry (FL) University, where he played baseball and earned a degree in Exceptional Student Education. He also spent six years as an assistant coach at Barry University and one year as a coach at the University of Miami.

RED SOX 2020 MAJOR LEAGUE COACHING STAFF

Manager – Alex Cora

Bench Coach – Ron Roenicke

Hitting Coach – Tim Hyers

Assistant Hitting Coach – Peter Fatse

Pitching Coach – Dave Bush

Assistant Pitching Coach – Kevin Walker

Bullpen Coach – Craig Bjornson

First Base Coach – Tom Goodwin

Third Base Coach – Carlos Febles

Coach – Ramón Vázquez