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Bo Porter

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Bo Porter
Porter with the Astros in 2013
Los Angeles Angels – No. 88
Outfielder / Manager / Coach
Born: (1972-07-05) July 5, 1972 (age 52)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 9, 1999, for the Chicago Cubs
Last MLB appearance
August 7, 2001, for the Texas Rangers
MLB statistics
Batting average.214
Home runs2
Runs batted in8
Managerial record110–190
Winning %.367
Teams
As player

As manager

As coach

Marquis Donnell "Bo" Porter (born July 5, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player, manager, and coach. He is the current first base coach for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was a special assistant to the Atlanta Braves general manager and former third base/outfield and base running coach for the Braves. Porter previously served as manager of the Houston Astros for two seasons until his termination on September 1, 2014. During spring training in 2018 he ran the Major League Baseball Players Association free agent camp. In 2019, he became a television broadcaster for the Washington Nationals on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Early life

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Porter was raised in Newark, New Jersey in the South Ward and is a graduate of Weequahic High School.[1] While in high school, Porter was an all-state performer in baseball, football, and basketball.[2]

Porter attended the University of Iowa, and played both baseball and football for the Iowa Hawkeyes.[3] He earned All-Big Ten Conference honors in both sports.[4]

Playing career

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Porter was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 40th round of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft.

In 1999, Porter made his major-league debut with the Cubs. Following the season, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the Rule 5 draft. After the 2000 season, he was selected off waivers by the Texas Rangers. He was granted free agency following the 2001 season, and he played the remainder of his career in the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies minor league systems.

Post-playing career

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Early career

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Porter served as the hitting coach for the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers in 2005 and manager of the Class A-Advanced Jamestown Jammers in 2006. Porter served as Florida Marlins' third base coach and outfield and baserunning instructor from 2007 to 2009.[5]

Arizona Diamondbacks

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Porter became the Diamondbacks third base coach in 2010,[6] after he declined the Marlins' offer to remain with the organization.[7] Following the dismissal of manager A. J. Hinch and promotion of bench coach Kirk Gibson to interim manager in July 2010, Porter was promoted to bench coach.[5]

The Marlins interviewed Porter for their managing job in mid-2010, after they fired Fredi González.[8] Porter was fired by the Diamondbacks following the 2010 season.[9]

Washington Nationals

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Porter was a finalist for the Florida Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates managerial positions after the 2010 season. The Marlins position eventually went to Florida's interim manager, Edwin Rodríguez. Porter was hired by the Washington Nationals on November 2, 2010, as their new third base coach, taking over from Pat Listach,[10] and took himself out of consideration for the Pittsburgh managerial job when he accepted his position with the Nats before the Pirates finished their interview process.[11]

On September 6, 2012, Porter was involved in a benches-clearing incident during a game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., between the Nationals and the Chicago Cubs. Chicago bench coach Jamie Quirk was yelling, apparently at Porter, from inside the Cubs dugout, causing Porter to leave his position in the third base coach's box and approach the third-base dugout to confront Quirk. Ultimately, both teams came out onto the field and Quirk was ejected by umpire Jerry Layne.[12]

Houston Astros

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On September 27, 2012, Porter was announced as the new manager of the Houston Astros for the 2013 season, replacing Brad Mills, who had led the Astros to records of 56–106 and 55–107 in the last two seasons; the Astros had developed a strategy under general manager Jeff Luhnow to develop the team through high draft picks that required rebuilding the farm system and utilizing players at cost-effective rates, such as Jose Altuve. Porter was chosen over fellow candidates Tony DeFrancesco, Dave Martinez, and Tim Bogar.[13] Porter was also the first Astros manager to manage the team in the American League.[14] The Astros won the Opening Day game against the Texas Rangers and then promptly lost six straight games. The win on March 31 was the only time the Astros would be over .500 the whole season, and they finished the season by losing fifteen straight games to go 51–111.[15]

The following season, the Astros were over .500 for two days in the year, starting and ending with their first two wins of the season. By the end of August, they had eclipsed their win total from the past three seasons with 59, and they had their first full month with a winning record for the first time since 2010 in May and August.[16] On September 1, 2014, the Astros fired Porter with the team at a record of 59–79, reportedly due to growing tension between Porter and Luhnow, as Porter did not appreciate perceived challenges to his authority as manager, with Porter stating his gripes at being second-guessed to club owner Jim Crane. One notable annoyance came with the team bringing Mark Appel (the top pick of the previous MLB draft by Houston) to throw a July bullpen session in Houston in the presence of the team pitching coach Brent Strom, which raised objections from Astro players due to perceived special treatment and objections from Porter due to not being notified of the session before it happened.[17] Porter was replaced on an interim basis by Tom Lawless, who managed the final 24 games of the year that resulted in Houston finishing in fourth place in the division, their first non-last place finish in four years with the help of fresh players such as Dallas Keuchel and Chris Carter. Porter was the youngest manager in the majors prior to being fired.[18] A. J. Hinch would later assume the position as permanent manager in 2015.

Atlanta Braves

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Porter at spring training in 2015

On October 3, 2014, the Atlanta Braves announced coaching changes for the 2015 season which included hiring Porter as third base coach, a position which also included outfield and base-running coaching responsibilities. After the 2016 season concluded, Ron Washington replaced Porter as the Braves' third base coach, and Porter was named a special assistant to Braves general manager John Coppolella.[19]

Free agent camp

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On February 8, 2018, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Tony Clark, announced that the MLBPA would open its first spring training camp for unemployed MLB players since 1995 because an historically slow free-agent market during the 2017–2018 offseason had left more than 100 MLB free agents unsigned as MLB teams opened their spring training camps for the 2018 season.[20][21] This "free agent" camp was intended to provide unsigned free agents who wished to attend it with a simulation of a normal spring training experience and allow them to get in shape for the 2018 season while awaiting a contract offer from a team.[20] Clark announced that Porter would run the free agent camp for the MLBPA.[22] Porter had approximately one week to assemble a staff, find a baseball facility for the camp, and secure temporary housing for the players attending it.[22] Nicknamed "Camp Jobless" by the players,[23] the camp was held at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, with temporary housing in nearby Sarasota.[22] It officially opened on February 11, 2018,[21] with workouts beginning on February 12,[21] the same day MLB teams began their spring training workouts.[21] Porter's coaching staff included former MLB players Chris Chambliss, Tom Gordon, Brian Jordan, Reid Nichols, Dave Winfield,[20] and Dmitri Young.[23] The camp shut down on March 9, 2018.[22]

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network

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On January 25, 2019, the Washington Nationals and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) announced that Porter would replace Ray Knight in 2019 as co-anchor and analyst on the Nats Xtra pre-game and post-game shows that air on MASN before and after Nationals games.[24] His first Nats Xtra broadcast took place on Opening Day on March 28, 2019.

Los Angeles Angels

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On November 13, 2023, it was reported that the Los Angeles Angels would be hiring Porter as their first base coach.[25]

Managerial record

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Team Year Regular season Postseason
Games Won Lost Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
HOU 2013 162 51 111 .315 5th in AL West – – – –
HOU 2014 138 59 79 .428 Fired – – – –
Total[26] 300 110 190 .367 – – –

Personal life

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Porter is from Newark, New Jersey, but has lived in Houston, Texas, since 1996,[14] and founded and is CEO of Future All-Stars Sports Development Academy since 1998.[27]

Porter founded Bo Porter Academy, which opened in August 2022.[28] It is a college preparatory private school for baseball scholar-athletes in middle school and high school.[29] Porter is also the CEO of Bo Porter Enterprise and CORE Multimedia Group.[30]

Porter's wife, Dr. Heather Brown, is an orthodontist,[31] and they have three sons: Bryce, Jaxon, and Jace.[32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Carr, Rob (October 5, 2012). "D'Alessandro: Newark's Bo Porter hopes to help revive baseball in the city by succeeding as Astros manager". NJ.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  2. ^ McTaggart, Brian. "Hometown honors manager with 'Bo Porter Day'". MLB.com. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  3. ^ "Former Two-Sport Standout Bo Porter is Honorary Captain". University of Iowa Athletics. October 3, 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  4. ^ Sullivan, Paul Francis. "Houston Astros Will Name Bo Porter as Their New Manager". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Arizona Diamondbacks name Bo Porter bench coach". Azcentral.com. April 5, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  6. ^ "Diamondbacks add Williams, Porter as coaches". NevadaAppeal.com. November 12, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  7. ^ "Florida Marlins: More coaching staff vacancies – Florida Marlins – Sun-Sentinel". Blogs.sun-sentinel.com. October 9, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  8. ^ Berry, Adam. "Porter talks to Marlins about manager job | dbacks.com: News". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  9. ^ "Gibson signs 2-year deal; staff changes « Inside the D-backs". Taoofsteve.mlblogs.com. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  10. ^ "Nationals name Porter third-base coach". Washington.nationals.mlb.com. May 24, 2013. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  11. ^ Alper, Josh (November 2, 2010). "Bo Porter Joins Nats Coaching Staff, Out of Running in Pittsburgh, Florida". Mlb.fanhouse.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  12. ^ Fiammetta, Mike. Cubs drop tense game in Washington. MLB.com. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  13. ^ "Report: Astros will name Nats' Porter manager". September 27, 2012.
  14. ^ a b Castillo, Jorge (April 4, 2014). "Astros manager Bo Porter, a Newark native, remains positive in his second season". The Star-Ledger. New Jersey On-Line LLC (NJ.com). Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  15. ^ "2013 Houston Astros Schedule".
  16. ^ "2014 Houston Astros Schedule".
  17. ^ Corcoran, Cliff (September 1, 2014). "Another setback for Astros as team fires manager Bo Porter". si.com. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  18. ^ "Bo Porter Fired by Astros: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction". Bleacher Report.
  19. ^ "O'Brien, David, "Braves bringing back Gonzalez as manager for 2015," ajc.com, October 3, 2014 Retrieved March 29, 2019". Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  20. ^ a b c "Nightengale, Bob, "All eyes on jobless camp as MLB spring training opens: 'Not one player wants to be there'," usatoday.com, February 12, 2018, 12:45 p.m. EST Retrieved March 29, 2019". Usatoday.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  21. ^ a b c d Baltimore Sun•Feb 09, 2018 at 7:20 pm (February 9, 2018). "Blum, Ronald, "MLB players union to open free-agent camp in Bradenton," February 8, 2018, 7:20 p.m. Retrieved March 29, 2019". Baltimoresun.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ a b c d Lennon, David, "Away from MLB's normal spring training, a camp nowhere of sorts for baseball's long list of free agents," newsday.com, March 10, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Retrieved March 29, 2019
  23. ^ a b "Nightengale, Bob, "For free agents at MLB's Camp Jobless, it's 'not about money. Just an opportunity'," usatoday.com, February 14, 2018, 7:08 p.m. EST Retrieved March 29, 2019". Usatoday.com. February 14, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  24. ^ "Allen, Scott, "," washingtonpost.com, January 24, 2019, 2:00 p.m. EST. Retrieved January 25, 2019". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  25. ^ "Angels To Hire Bo Porter As First Base Coach". mlbtraderumors.com. November 13, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  26. ^ "Bo Porter Managerial Record".
  27. ^ "About Bo Porter". Bo Porter's Future All-Stars Sports Development Academy. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  28. ^ Porter, Bo (December 23, 2022). "Bo's Base Hit: A Letter from the Editor-In-Chief". CORE Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  29. ^ "What is BPA?". Bo Porter Academy. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  30. ^ "About Bo Porter". CORE Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  31. ^ Brown, Heather. "The Need for Speed". orthotown. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  32. ^ "About Bo Porter". Bo Porter Enterprise. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Florida Marlins Third base coach
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Arizona Diamondbacks
Third base coach→bench coach
2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Washington Nationals Third base coach
2011–2012 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Atlanta Braves Third base coach
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
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