Tigers Name Jeff Jones, Dave Clark To Coaching Staff
DETROIT- The Detroit Tigers today named Jeff Jones and Dave Clark to the club's coaching staff. Jones will return to the staff as pitching coach and Clark will join the Tigers as third base coach and outfield instructor.
Jones has served as Detroit's pitching coach since being named to the position on July 3, 2011. He officially joined the Tigers coaching staff on November 9, 2006 as the bullpen coach. He began his professional coaching career with the Tigers organization in 1989, serving as a pitching coach at the minor league level throughout the years with Single A Fayetteville (1989), Double A London (1991-92), Double A Jacksonville (1996) and Triple A Toledo (1990, 1993-94, 1997-98, 2000-06). Jones worked as the bullpen coach in Detroit in 1995, the final month of the 1998 season and all of 1999, in addition to joining the major league staff to serve the remainder of the season in that role on both September 7, 2000 and April 9, 2002.
Jones was selected by Oakland in the 13th round of the June 1977 draft and his pitching career spanned 11 seasons (1977-87). He saw action at the major league level during five seasons with Oakland (1980-84).
Clark joins the Tigers after spending five seasons as a member of the Houston Astros coaching staff. He served as first base coach last season after four years as third base coach (2009-12). He had a brief stint as Astros interim manager in the club's final 13 games of the 2009 season. Prior to joining the Astros major league coaching staff, Clark spent six seasons as a minor league manager (2003-08) in the Pirates and Astros minor league systems. His professional coaching career began in 2000 as the Triple A Nashville hitting coach. After one season as a minor league coach, he joined the Pirates major league staff as hitting coach for two seasons (2001-02) before beginning his stint as a manager in the minors.
Clark was selected by Cleveland in the first round (11th overall pick) of the June 1983 draft and made his major league debut with the Indians in 1986. He played parts of 13 seasons with the Indians (1986-89), Cubs (1990, 97), Royals (1991), Pirates (1992-96), Dodgers (1996) and Astros (1998).
Jones and Clark have both agreed to two-year contracts with the club.
