Washington Nationals announce Minor League player development staff

By | February 1, 2023

The Washington Nationals announced their 2023 Minor League player development staff on Wednesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo and Director of Player Development De Jon Watson made the joint announcement.

* - New staff member

# - Added role

** - Staff role change

New Coaching Staff Members

Delino DeShields joins the Nationals after 14 seasons (2009-22) with the Cincinnati Reds organization, including the last four seasons (2019-22) as the first base/infield/baserunning coach on their Major League staff. Prior to that role, DeShields spent the previous 10 seasons in the Reds’ player development system. In 2010, he began an eight-year run as a manager with the organization, leading rookie-level Billings (2010), Single-A Dayton (2011-12), Double-A Pensacola (2013-14) and Triple-A Louisville (2015-17). He spent the 2018 season as the organization’s roving bunting and baserunning instructor. DeShields was the Montreal Expos’ first-round pick in the 1987 Draft and went on to spend 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with Montreal, Los Angeles (NL), St. Louis, Baltimore and Chicago (NL).
Rafael Ozuna joins the Nationals after spending the previous five seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, most recently as the manager of their Dominican Summer League club (2018, 2021-22). He also spent two seasons (2019-20) as the hitting coach of the DSL Diamondbacks. Prior to that, he spent nine seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers system as an assistant hitting coach at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga (2015-17) and an outfield/baserunning coach with the DSL Dodgers (2009-14). A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Ozuna joined the coaching ranks after an 11-year playing career.
Cody Ransom joined the coaching ranks in 2020 as a coach in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. He was tabbed to be on the AZL Diamondbacks staff in 2020 before the Minor League season was cancelled. He spent the 2021 season with the ACL Diamondbacks and the 2022 season with Single-A Visalia. Ransom played parts of 11 Major League seasons with San Francisco, Houston, New York (AL), Philadelphia, Arizona, Milwaukee, San Diego and Chicago (NL).