Darren Balsley (born October 27, 1964) is an American baseball coach. He was the pitching coach of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 2003 to 2019. Balsley was a minor-league pitcher before he decided to go into coaching. He went to Mount Carmel High School in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and attended

Palomar College Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. Academics Palomar College off ...

. He had been in this role since May 17, 2003. Under his tutelage, the Padres pitching has greatly improved, with the team ERA going from 4.87 in 2003 to a Major-League best 3.70 in 2007 and again Major-League leading best 3.07 ERA in 2010. Many pitchers have gone on to have some of the best years of their careers under his coaching. These players include

Heath Bell Heath Justin Bell (born September 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. As a closer (baseball), closer with the San Diego Padres from 2009 to 2011, Bell was a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star Game, All-St ...

Jake Peavy Jacob Edward Peavy (born May 31, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who is currently an on-air analyst for MLB Network. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, ...

, Cla Meredith, Chris Young,

Akinori Otsuka (born January 13, 1972) is a Japanese former baseball pitcher who coaches for the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was formerly the set-up man for the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers. He was also the closer for Japa ...

, and Kevin Cameron.

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1964 births Living people Baseball players from Newport Beach, California Dunedin Blue Jays players Idaho Falls Chukars players Knoxville Blue Jays players Major League Baseball pitching coaches Modesto Nuts players Pocatello Gems players San Diego Padres coaches {{Baseball-manager-stub