Juan Manuel Nieves Cruz (born January 5, 1965) is a Puerto Rican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and coach who is currently the assistant pitching coach for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

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 ...

(MLB). He played for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

(MLB) from 1986 to 1988. He has coached in MLB for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

, and

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

Playing career

Nieves was signed by the

, with a $115,000

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, after he had a 19–1 win–loss record with a 1.05

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) during his senior season at the Avon Old Farms school in

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. On April 15, 1987, Nieves threw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

against the

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, becoming the second-youngest player in Major League history to do so. He threw the only no-hitter for the Brewers until 2021. Nieves' no-hitter became the first ever thrown by a Puerto Rican in Major League Baseball. Nieves was mostly a starter, but on September 5, 1988, he earned his only career save against the White Sox. He threw one perfect inning, closing out a 5–2 Brewers victory and saving the game for starter Don August. After playing for the Brewers from 1986 to 1988, he suffered a career-ending arm injury.

Coaching career

Nieves worked as a minor league pitching instructor for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(1992–1996) and the White Sox (1999–2007) before joining the

Major League staff as the bullpen coach serving for the next five seasons. He was mentored by Don Cooper, first when Cooper was the White Sox' roving coordinator in their minor league hierarchy, and later when Cooper became the pitching coach of the Sox. They became really close, adapting similar pitching styles, and Nieves was named as "Cooper's right-hand man". He was named Boston's pitching coach on November 7, 2012. He brought over Cooper's style of pitching to the Red Sox organization. Nieves led the Red Sox to the second lowest earned run average in the American League as the team went on to win the World Series. After the Red Sox earned the second highest team ERA (4.86) to start the 2015 season, Nieves was dismissed by the team on May 7, 2015. Nieves spent the next three seasons as pitching coach for the

, being dismissed after the 2018 season. On November 6, 2020, the

named Nieves as the team's assistant pitching coach for the 2021 season. Nieves had spent the previous two seasons as the pitching coach for the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers Triple-A affiliate.

References

External links

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Nieves, Juan 1965 births Living people Beloit Brewers players Boston Red Sox coaches Chicago White Sox coaches Detroit Tigers coaches Denver Zephyrs players El Paso Diablos players Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Miami Marlins coaches Milwaukee Brewers players Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Sioux Falls Canaries players Stockton Ports players Vancouver Canadians players Sportspeople from Santurce, Puerto Rico Baseball players from San Juan, Puerto Rico

Playing career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links