Jim Lett, Well-Kept - 26

-
Originally published Feb. 5, 2014
Jim Lett was announced as bench coach with the Pirates for 2006. Pirates manager Jim Tracy was happy to have him.

Lett joined the Pirates after spending three decades in the game, as a player, coach and minor league manager.

"He's a very special well kept secret," Tracy told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "He creates a tremendous amount of versatility for this staff. He's a real chip. There's not a job he can't do."

Lett's first job in baseball was as a player. He was signed by the Reds in 1973 out of the University of Kentucky. At Kentucky, Lett played both football and baseball.

With the Reds, Lett played three seasons. He made single-A Tampa his first season, then AA Trois-Rivieres. He hit .257 at AA, getting a hit-and-run single in a June game.

By 1977, Lett was managing in the minors at single-A Shelby. He moved to single-A Cedar Rapids in 1980, then AA Waterbury in 1982.

In 1986, Lett got his first shot at the majors, as bench coach in Cincinnati. He stayed there for four seasons. In 1990, he returned to the minors, managing single-A Charleston. In July 1990, Lett's Wheelers picked up a 13-1 win.

"We got a few seeing-eye hits," Lett told The Charleston News and Courier after that game. "But the kids played aggressively and made things happen. That's all you can ask of them."

After spending time as a hitting coach and minor league field coordinator, Lett returned to Cincinnati as bench coach in 1996, then moved to the Blue Jays as bench coach in 1997. In 2001, he became bullpen coach for the Dodgers.

He spent two years as bench coach in Pittsburgh. In 2010, he moved to the Nationals as bullpen coach. He stayed with Washington through 2013.

With the Nationals, Lett was the guy who got pitchers up in the bullpen. In June 2011, it was Lett who got Ryan Matthaus up for his major league debut.

"That was the most nerve-racking part," Mattheus told MASNSports afterward. "Right when Jim Lett said my name, all the excitement hit me right at once."

Browse By:

-Player Name
-Player Team
-Date Featured

Players A to Z

Popular posts from this blog

Wally Heckel helped St. John's, made two pro seasons

-
Image
St. John's University was looking to advance in the 1988 Big East Tournament and Wally Heckel helped them do that, according to The Associated Press . Hitting against Seton Hall, Heckel picked up three hits, including a home run, helping his team to a 6-2 victory . Heckel's performance that year got the notice of scouts for the Blue Jays , the team taking him way down in the 65th round of the draft that year. Heckel instead stayed in school, but the Blue Jays didn't forget him. A year later, Heckel had improved his draft stock considerably, the Blue Jays taking him in the 12th round . Heckel is also credited by his full name, Walter Heckel. As a pro, though, Heckel couldn't show that same improvement. His professional career ended up consisting of just two seasons . Heckel's efforts at St. John's in 1988 earned him selection to that year's All-Tournament Team. In 1989, he also won First Team All-Conference honors . In summer of 1988, Heckel h...
Read more

Jimmy White showed patience, saw 7 pro seasons, made AA

-
Image
Astros farmhand Jimmy White assessed his progress in 1994 to his hometown Tampa Tribune . When he started four years earlier, he didn't know anything. He just went up and hit, he told The Tribune . "Now you look over how the pitcher pitched you last time. You go up there more prepared," he told The Tribune . "Things are a lot different. I'm more patient and confident." White made AA for the first time that season. In a career that spanned seven seasons , he didn't make it higher. White's career began in 1990, taken by the Astros in the sixth round of the draft out of Brandon High School in Florida. Ahead of the draft, The Tribune spoke to scouts to gauge his prospects. "He's an interesting project," one scout told The Tribune . "He reminds me of a young colt. He needs to grow and develop, but he has all the tools you like to see in a major-league prospect." White started with the Astros in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He...
Read more

Fionel Nieves struggled with control, saw 2 pro seasons

-
Image
In previewing the 1991 season, The Asheville Citizen-Times highlighted two of the team's pitchers as control pitchers, then two others, including Fionel Nieves , as having good fastballs. As it soon turned out, would soon show he was not the former .  Control issues would soon mean he would see only three starts. That season, his second as a pro , would also be his last. He topped out at single-A. Nieves' career began in 1990, signed by the Astros two years earlier as a free agent out of his native Dominican Republic . Nieves started with the Astros in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He got 10 outings, 7 starts. He went 2-3, with a 5.52 ERA in 31 innings.  Nieves then moved on to Asheville to start 1991. In his first start in mid-April, he threw three first-inning wild pitches and took the loss. He went 3.1 and gave up four earned in his second start. He then walked six and was pulled in the second inning in his third. By the end of April, Nieves had been sent back to ex...
Read more

Tom Nevers made 1st round, saw 13 seasons, AAA, coached

-
Image
The Louisville Courier-Journal checked in on Louisville RiverBats veteran top picks in June 2000, among them former Astros first-round pick Tom Nevers . By then, Nevers was in his 11th pro season, having started in 1990. The highest he'd gotten was AAA. "The media and the fans can take it as, 'Oh, you're a first-rounder, you're going to be a star.,'" Nevers told The Courier-Journal then. "But there are no guarantees in this game." Nevers went on to play in two more seasons. The former first rounder never made the majors . Nevers' career began in 1990, taken by the Astros 21st overall out of Edina High School in Minnesota. The Astros picked Nevers to play baseball as he also had hockey options. The Pittsburgh Penguins also selected Nevers in the fifth round of the 1989 NHL draft and he had a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. Ahead of the 1989 NHL draft, Nevers spoke to The Minneapolis Star-Tribune about his options. "I lov...
Read more

Steve Boatman went from high school to two pro seasons

-
Image
Texas' Coppell High School lost the game and lost the pitcher The Fort Worth Star-Telegram described as the team's ace, Steve Boatman , then 13-2. Coppell's opponent Carroll High saw three players hit doubles in the 7-2 win, "but the biggest blow" came with a single lined off Boatman's foot, forcing him from the game and possibly braking his ankle, The Star-Telegram wrote . However serious the injury was, Boatman came back and soon turned pro. His pro career ultimately lasted two seasons. He played both in rookie ball. Coppell's career began in 1989, taken by the Astros in the 42nd round of the draft out of Coppell High. At Coppell, Boatman also played on the football team  in 1988. In May 1989 in baseball, Boatman gave up just one hit in a win.  Though drafted in 1989, Coppell didn't hit the field for the Astros until 1990, in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He got into 13 games, starting 10. He went 3-4, with a 3.12 ERA. He then returned tp the GCL...
Read more

Features from the 1990 minor league sets (By Date)

-
Image
What happened to your favorite minor league team in 1990? Find out here. Since late 2009, the players of 1990 have been featured at Greatest21Days.com, one at a time. Here, they've been ordered here by the date published, newest first.  Every player has a story. With the help of contemporaneous newspaper articles, find that story here. Most recent players added Dec. 1 ,  2024 Features in order of when the y appeared: February 2025  -  Doug Bair  did his job in major leagues over 15 seasons , 2/23/25  -  Nick Belmonte  played, managed, broadcast Florida games , 2/22/25  -  Mark Brewer  amassed coaching experience over long career , 2/21/25  -  Dan Shwam  had long independent league managerial career , 2/15/25  -  Jim Schifman  dreamed of pros, made it for eight games , 2/11/25  -  Steve Keighley  worked to hit over 4 seasons, made high-A , 2/9/25  -  Jim Doyle  helped Sal...
Read more

Jermaine Swinton followed heart to decade-plus in pros

-
Image
Taken in the second round of the 1989 draft by the Astros, it took 16-yea-old New York City high schooler Jermaine Swinton until that September to sign, Newsday wrote . The delay in choosing between college and the pros meant he missed the 1989 season, first hitting the field in 1990. "I would have been happy either way," Swinton told Newsday in July 1990 of his decision. "But it turned out to be a good decision ... I just followed my heart to play pro ball." Swinton's pro career ended up spanning more than a decade . He spent more than half of that in independent ball. He topped out in the minors at high-A. Swinton's career began that year in 1989, taken by the Astros 42nd overall out of Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. After his selection in 1989, his coach spoke to Newsday . "It didn't surprise me at all," Fort Hamilton coach Jim Apicella told Newsday . "He has good speed and some tremendous power." Swinton started for t...
Read more