Jerry Dipoto

Gerard Peter Dipoto (born May 24, 1968) is an American former professional baseball player and an executive. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, and Colorado Rockies from 1993 through 2000. Dipoto has previously served in front office positions with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels, and Boston Red Sox. He is currently the general manager of the Seattle Mariners, being hired on September 28, 2015 to replace Jack Zduriencik.^[1]

Early life

Dipoto was born to Gerard & Barbara Dipoto and has two siblings, Marc Dipoto and Lori Dipoto-Dorsey. He played high school baseball at Toms River High School North in Toms River, New Jersey. He enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and played college baseball for the VCU Rams.

Professional career

The Cleveland Indians selected Dipoto in the third round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft.^[2] He made his major league debut in 1993.

After the 1994 season, the Indians traded Dipoto with Paul Byrd, Dave Mlicki and a player to be named later (minor leaguer Jesus Azuaje) to the New York Mets for Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Roa.^[3]

After the 1996 season, he was traded by the Mets to the Colorado Rockies for Armando Reynoso.^[4]

Front office career

In 2003 he became a scout for the Boston Red Sox, and in 2004 was a part of the World Series winning team as a scout. In 2005 he became the head of the scouting department for the Colorado Rockies. When Josh Byrnes, who Jerry had known since his days as a Rockies player, became the General Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, he went with Byrnes to Arizona and became the Director of Scouting and Player Personnel.

Byrnes was fired on July 1, 2010 and Dipoto was named interim General Manager.^[5] On September 22, Kevin Towers was named the new Diamondbacks General Manager. Dipoto was offered the opportunity to remain with the Diamondbacks.^[6]

On October 28, 2011, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim announced Dipoto would be their next general manager, replacing Tony Reagins.^[7] Angels' owner Arte Moreno said that "one of the reasons we hired Jerry is that I really liked the way he viewed baseball analytics." However, Dipoto and manager Mike Scioscia disagreed regarding the use of analytics in baseball decisions,^[8] and a rift developed between the two when Dipoto fired Mickey Hatcher from the role of the team's hitting coach.^[9] Despite rumors that the Angels might replace either Dipoto or Scioscia after the 2013 season,^[10] Moreno announced that both would return to the Angels for the 2014 season.^[11]

Tension between Dipoto and Scioscia continued during the 2015 season regarding the way Scioscia and his coaches delivered statistical reports developed by Dipoto and the front office to their players.^[12] Dipoto resigned his post on July 1, 2015.^[13]

On August 12, 2015 the Boston Red Sox hired Jerry Dipoto in an advisory role.^[14]

After the Seattle Mariners fired Jack Zduriencik after seven years with the club, they launched a GM search which lasted exactly one month, culminating with the hiring of Dipoto on September 28, 2015.^[1]

Personal

He and his wife, Tamie, have three children: Taylor, Jordan, and Jonah. He is also a thyroid cancer survivor, having undergone curative thyroid surgery in 1994.^[15]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet