Diamondbacks add Williams, Porter to coaching staff

PHOENIX - The Arizona Diamondbacks have added Matt Williams as first base coach and Bo Porter as third base coach while Glenn Sherlock agreed to remain with the club as the bullpen and catching coach for the 2010 season.

"We are really proud to add Matt Williams and Bo Porter to our staff in addition to retaining Glenn Sherlock," Manager A.J. Hinch said. "Our coaching staff will have a unique blend of coaching styles, competitiveness, and personality that will help our players in every aspect of the game, mentally and physically. As a staff, we are excited and ready to start preparing together for a successful 2010."

Williams is making his big league coaching debut. His lone coaching experience came in the final two months of the 2007 season when he served as the interim manager of the Double-A Mobile BayBears. He worked with the club as a Spring Training Advisor in 2006.

Williams, who played for the D-backs from 1998-2003, recently completed his fifth season as a member of the D-backs broadcast team while holding the title of Special Assistant to the President and CEO. Over his 17-year Major League career, the third baseman hit .268 with 338 doubles, 35 triples, 378 home runs and 1,218 RBI in 1,866 career games for the San Francisco Giants (1987-96), Cleveland Indians (1997) and D-backs. The five-time All-Star earned four Rawlings Gold Gloves and four Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger awards. An integral member of the D-backs' championship season in 2001, he is the only player in Major League history to hit a home run in a World Series for three different teams (also Giants in 1989, Indians in 1997).

Porter was the Florida Marlins' third base and outfield coach for the past three seasons while also serving as the club's baserunning instructor. He does have some managing experience as he managed the Single-A Jamestown Jammers in 2006 and also worked as the organization's outfield coordinator. He joined the Marlins' organization in 2005 as the hitting coach for Single-A Greensboro during their inaugural season.

Porter, who was the Chicago Cubs' 40th-round selection in the 1993 First-Year Player Draft, hit .214 with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs and 8 RBI in 89 career games over parts of three seasons in the Majors with the Chicago Cubs (1999), Oakland Athletics (2000) and Texas Rangers (2001). Over parts of 10 minor league seasons, he hit .269 with 193 doubles, 40 triples, 113 home runs and 502 RBI in 1,064 games in the farm systems for the Cubs, Athletics, Rangers, Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves.

Sherlock returns for his 13th season with the club, 11th in his current capacity (1998-2002, 2005-present) as bullpen and catching coach, and is the lone member of the coaching staff that has been on board since the inaugural season in 1998. He served as the bench coach in 2003 and as both the first base coach and third base coach in 2004. He worked as the organization's catching coordinator from 1996-1997.

Williams, who will also handle the infield coaching duties, and Porter, who will oversee the outfielders instruction, join a coaching staff that returns bench coach Kirk Gibson, hitting coach Jack Howell, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, Jr., and Sherlock.