Joel Skinner
| Joel Skinner | |||
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Joel Skinner in 2009
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| Catcher | |||
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Born: February 21, 1961 La Jolla, California |
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| MLB debut | |||
| June 12, 1983, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 22, 1991, for the Cleveland Indians | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .228 | ||
| Home runs | 17 | ||
| Runs batted in | 136 | ||
| Teams | |||
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As Player As Manager |
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As Player
As Manager
Joel Patrick Skinner (born February 21, 1961) is a retired Major League Baseball catcher and former manager of the Charlotte Knights, the Class AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. He is the son of Bob Skinner, a National League outfielder in the 1950s and 1960s.
At Mission Bay High School in San Diego, Joel Skinner played baseball and water polo. He was drafted immediately following his senior year and was the first player taken in the free-agent compensation draft.
Originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Skinner was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1983. After brief call-ups to the majors over the next three years, Skinner was slated to start 1986 with the White Sox.
New general manager Hawk Harrelson had taken a liking to Skinner, and decided to make him the starting catcher in place of Carlton Fisk. This made some sense on paper; Fisk was 38 years old, and conventional wisdom then as now suggests that catchers at that age don't have many years left. Harrelson wanted to have Fisk's successor in place when Fisk retired. To ease the transition, Fisk was moved to left field. The move backfired when Skinner batted only .171 in April. On May 10, Fisk became the regular catcher, and Skinner only made 25 more starts behind the plate before being traded to the New York Yankees on July 30.
Skinner's career never really recovered after that. He bounced between the majors and minors with the Yankees and Cleveland Indians until his retirement in 1994.
Skinner spent six seasons managing in the Indians minor league system from 1995–2000. In those seasons he compiled a record of 448–333 (.574) and took his team to the playoffs in five of six seasons.
Skinner was named to the coaching staff of the Cleveland Indians on November 10, 2000, succeeding Jim Riggleman as third base coach. He was named interim manager of the Tribe on July 11, 2002 after Charlie Manuel was let go in a contract dispute. At the time, Skinner was the youngest manager in the major leagues, at age 41. He skippered the team to a 35–41 record to finish the season, including a 15–13 record in September. Skinner's name was mentioned among candidates to the permanent manager's job, but Eric Wedge was chosen instead. Skinner remained on the Indians' coaching staff until Manny Acta was hired in 2009. On October 20, 2010, Skinner was hired as the Oakland Athletics bench coach for the 2011 season replacing Tye Waller. On November 14, 2011, Skinner was hired as the manager of the Charlotte Knights.
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