The Top 100 coaches most likely to become MLB managers

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Manager Bruce Bochy #15 of the San Francisco Giants looks on from the dugout before his last game as Giants manager, the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park on September 29, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Manager Bruce Bochy #15 of the San Francisco Giants looks on from the dugout before his last game as Giants manager, the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park on September 29, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
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Tom Prince, Detroit Tigers, MLB coaching staffs, MLB managers
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 29: Interim manager Tom Prince #14 of the Pittsburgh Pirates looks on from the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park on September 29, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

24) Tom Prince

Tom Prince most recently was the Triple-A manager for the Detroit Tigers but he has some MLB coaching experience and has interviewed for an MLB managerial job before.

Prince, 57, spent parts of 17 seasons in the majors as a backup catcher retiring after the 2003 season. Immediately, Prince rejoined the Pirates (the team he played with the most in his career) as a minor league manager. He managed for them from 2004-2012, 2014-15 with six seasons at Rookie-ball, two seasons at Short-Season A, a season at Single-A, and a season at Double-A. In 2013, he was the “Coordinator of Instruction” for the Pirates, and in 2016, he was their minor league field coordinator.

From 2017 through 2019, he was their bench coach and he managed the final game of the 2019 season after manager Clint Hurdle resigned.

Prince left the Pirates after the 2019 season and joined the Tigers as their Triple-A manager in 2020 but with the pandemic, he became their manager at their alternate site. He managed for them at the Triple-A in 2021, leading them to the best record in their division for only the second time since 2008 and their third-best record since the Mud Hens returned to Toledo in 1965.

However, the Tigers fired him because they (meaning Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and new VP of Player Development Ryan Garko) wanted someone that they were more comfortable with and more aligned with more philosophically. Prince was also hired by Dave Littlefield, Garko’s predecessor who was demoted by the Tigers in August. Littlefield hired Prince back in 2004 for his first managerial job when Littlefield was the GM of the Pirates (2001-2007).

Prince interviewed with the Reds before they hired David Bell so he could be a manager for a team in the future.