
13) John Schneider
John Schneider is another coach that flies under most people’s radars as a potential MLB manager.
Schneider, 41, is a former catcher in the minor leagues (and 11 of the 30 MLB managers are former catchers, which is down from just a few years ago). Starting in 2002, he spent all seven of his pro-playing years with Toronto (getting up to Triple-A) before calling it quits. After he did, Schneider immediately became a minor league coach for Toronto.
He first became a minor league hitting coach in 2008 before being named as Toronto’s manager for their Rookie-ball team in 2009. He was their manager at Rookie-ball for two seasons and Short-Season A for another season before he left the team due to a family matter for a season. He returned in 2013, though, and managed another season at Rookie-ball, two more at Short-Season A, and one season each at Single-A, Advanced-A, and Double-A through 2018.
Total, in his minor league managerial career, his team’s got to their respective league’s championship four times and those four teams won three times in his nine years managing in the minors.
In 2019, Schneider joined Toronto’s MLB staff as an MLB coach/catching coach, a title that he still holds today.