Diamondbacks name Tim Bogar 3B coach to replace Shaun Larkin

The Arizona Diamondbacks are naming Tim Bogar the next third base coach of the club, replacing Shaun Larkin, the team confirmed to Arizona Sports on Friday.

Nick Piecoro of AZCentral.com reported the hiring first.

Bogar is an internal hire, as he managed Double-A Amarillo in 2024 and has spent this season as a player development staff advisor and special assistant for the Diamondbacks.

“It was a little bit of whirlwind, but I came over to this organization to do whatever I can to help these guys,” Bogar said.

Bogar, who played nine MLB seasons (1993-2001) before getting into coaching, has experience as a major league third base coach with the Boston Red Sox from 2010-11. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen was an executive with Boston at the time.

Before landing with the Diamondbacks as a minor league manager last year, Bogar coached with the Washington Nationals from 2018-23, winning a World Series in 2019 as the first base coach under Dave Martinez.

“Technically in 2023 after our third base coach got thrown out a couple times,” Bogar said was the last time he manned third base coaching duties in the big leagues.

Bogar has also coached in Tampa Bay, Texas and Seattle.

He was the interim manager of the Rangers in 2014 before getting replaced by current D-backs bench coach Jeff Banister.

Bogar said he was hired on Wednesday evening, so the club moved quickly.

“ You just get him up to date with signs, you get him up to date with our system,” manager Torey Lovullo said.

“He’s been a part of a lot of those meetings at different times. He’s been asking for information on the speed of guys, the objective speed, their lead size, their secondary lead size. He just wanted to get arm strengths, all those normal things that a third base coach will want to get to before he steps into the box.”

The Diamondbacks decided to pull Larkin from the third base coach role after Wednesday’s game.

In his first season as third base coach, Larkin found himself under the microscope for questionable decisions to send runners home or hold them up, and the D-backs made 18 outs at home plate this year.

Lovullo announced on Wednesday that making a change was “the best thing for this ballclub, for him and for us moving forward.”

Larkin will continue to coach infield defense, where the club has seen him make strides working with Blaze Alexander, in particular. He will no longer be in uniform, however, as teams can only uniform a limited number of coaches.

Larkin was the club’s farm director last season, and he hired Bogar to manage Amarillo.

“ Shaun Larkin is a really good friend of mine,” Bogar said. “He played for me two years in the minor leagues. I’ve known him for 20 years. We have a really good relationship. … I know Shaun’s been in a tough situation, but the bottom line is he’s a really good baseball man.”

The Diamondbacks take on the Cincinnati Reds on Friday at 6:40 p.m. MST.

Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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