Leo David Mazzone (born October 16, 1948) is an American former

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, ...

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

and

pitching coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

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 ...

. He worked with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

' organization from to and was the pitching coach for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

from to . He last served as the Special Pitching Advisor for the Furman University baseball program before it was shut down in 2020.

Early life

Although Mazzone was born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, his family lived on the other side of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

's north branch in

Luke, Maryland Luke is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, Allegany County, Maryland, United States, located along the Potomac River just upstream of Westernport, Maryland, Westernport. Known originally as West Piedmont, the town is part of the Cumberland, MD-W ...

. Growing up there, one of his friends was

Sam Perlozzo Samuel Benedict Perlozzo (born March 4, 1951) is an American former second baseman, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He managed the Baltimore Orioles from 2005 to 2007 and recently served as the first base coach for the Philad ...

of nearby

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, under whom Mazzone would eventually coach for the Baltimore Orioles. Mazzone was even the best man at Perlozzo's wedding.

Playing career

A pitcher, Mazzone made his professional debut in with the Medford Giants, a class-A farm team of the

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

. In all, he pitched seven seasons in the Giants organization, reaching as high as the Double-A

Amarillo Giants Amarillo, yellow or golden in Spanish, may refer to: Places * Amarillo, Texas, city in the US * Amarillo, Western Australia, former name for Keralup, Western Australia People * Amarillo Slim (1928–2012), American poker player * Eric Amari ...

, for whom he played four seasons from to . He pitched the next three seasons in the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

chain, reaching Triple-A with the

Tucson Toros The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in ...

in . In , he was a player-manager for the class-A

Corpus Christi Seagulls The Corpus Christi Seagulls were a minor league baseball team based in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1976 and 1977. The Seagulls played as members of the Class A level Gulf States League in 1976 and Lone Star League in 1977, winning the league champio ...

. He became their full-time manager the following season.

Coaching career

Mazzone was the hot-tempered manager for the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

Kinston Eagles in . It was the recommendation and contacts of Eagles owner Ray Kuhlman that proved instrumental in Atlanta deciding to take a chance on Mazzone in 1979. Mazzone has earned a reputation as one of the best pitching coaches of the modern era, having molded

Tom Glavine Thomas Michael Glavine (born March 25, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, for the Atlanta Braves (1987–2002, 2008) and New York Mets (2003–2007). With 164 victories durin ...

and

John Smoltz John Andrew Smoltz (born May 15, 1967), nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time Ma ...

into perennial All-Stars.

Greg Maddux Gregory Alan Maddux (born April 14, 1966), also known as "Mad Dog" and "the Professor," is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. ...

also enjoyed his best seasons under Mazzone. During his time in Atlanta, Mazzone developed and coached some of the best pitching rotations in baseball history. In 2005,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

ranked the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

(#1) and the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

(#4) Atlanta Braves pitching staffs as two of the Top 10 rotations of all time. This dominant pitching anchored the Braves' run of 14 consecutive division titles (1991-2005), 5 National League pennants (1991-1992, 1995-1996, 1999) and the 1995 World Series championship. Between 1991 and 1998, three of his pitchers won a total of 6

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball ( ...

s: *Tom Glavine - 1991 and 1998 * Greg Maddux - 1993, 1994, and 1995 (also won the award in 1992 with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

) * John Smoltz - 1996 Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz have all been inducted into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

. Over the years, a number of other pitchers joined the Braves and enjoyed some of their finest seasons under Mazzone only to regress after leaving. Mazzone's "accidental trademark" is his rocking back and forth while sitting in the

dugout Dugout may refer to: * Dugout (shelter), an underground shelter * Dugout (boat), a logboat * Dugout (smoking), a marijuana container Sports * In bat-and-ball sports, a dugout is one of two areas where players of the home or opposing teams sit whe ...

. On television broadcasts of Braves games, the camera would often show him rocking back and forth during the game. Mazzone's pitching philosophies state that pitchers should throw more between starts (two sessions instead of one) and be able to throw strikes on the low and outside corner of the strike zone. After the 2005 season Leo Mazzone took the

pitching coach job. On October 12, 2007, the Orioles fired Mazzone with one year left on his contract. On August 30, 2016, Leo Mazzone was hired by Head Coach

Brett Harker Brett Keaton Harker (born July 9, 1984) is an American college baseball coach and former pitcher, who was most recently the head baseball coach of the defunct Limestone Saints. He played college baseball at the College of Charleston for head coac ...

of the Furman University Baseball program as a Special Pitching advisor.

Honors

He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. In his book ''The Baseball Economist'', J.C. Bradbury titles a chapter, "How Good is Leo Mazzone?" Using statistical analysis, he analyzes whether Mazzone had a significant impact upon the pitchers that he coached. The sample is all pitchers who have pitched at least one year under Mazzone and one year under a different pitching coach. Bradbury found that Mazzone lowered the ERA of pitchers by an average of 0.64 points, and that after leaving Mazzone, pitchers' ERA increased by an average of 0.78 points. Bradbury believes that such an impact is deserving of Hall of Fame consideration.

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

lists him number one on the list of "Top 10 Assistant Coaches of All-Time".E-Ticket: "The Rock of Atlanta"
/ref> On July 30, 2022, the Atlanta Braves inducted him into the franchise

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Post-coaching career

Currently, Mazzone works as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

. He resides in

upstate South Carolina The Upstate, historically known as the Upcountry, is a region of the U.S. state of South Carolina, comprising the northwesternmost area of the state. Although loosely defined among locals, the general definition includes the 10 counties of the ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzone, Leo 1948 births Living people Amarillo Giants players 20th-century American sportsmen Baseball coaches from Maryland Baseball managers Baseball players from Cumberland, Maryland Atlanta Braves announcers Atlanta Braves coaches Baltimore Orioles coaches Baseball players from West Virginia Birmingham A's players Corpus Christi Seagulls players Decatur Commodores players Georges Creek Valley Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Medford Giants players Minor league baseball managers People from Keyser, West Virginia Tucson Toros players Sportspeople from Mineral County, West Virginia