Guardians promote JT Maguire to major league coaching staff

The Guardians have named JT Maguire as their new outfield coach, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Maguire has been working in Cleveland’s organization for the last five years, and this will be his first official role with the big league team.

The 36-year-old Maguire spent six years in the college coaching ranks before making a relatively quick rise through the Guardians organization. First hired as a bench coach for Cleveland’s rookie league club in 2019, the canceled 2020 minor league season saw Maguire coach at the major league alternate training site before moving onto a bench coach role with Triple-A Columbus in 2021. The Guardians then shifted Maguire to a coordinator role, overseeing the organization’s outfield and baserunning efforts.

This experience made Maguire a logical choice to step into the Guardians’ outfield coaching role left vacant when Kyle Hudson left the club in December to become the new Red Sox first base coach. Given the number of homegrown products in Cleveland’s outfield mix, Maguire is already quite familiar with such players as Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Will Benson and the next wave of prospects who might receive more MLB exposure in 2023.