S. Korean club hires ex-big leaguer Sutton as minor league manager

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korean baseball club Lotte Giants have hired former major leaguer Larry Sutton as their new minor league manager.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club announced Friday that Sutton will take over their affiliate in the Futures League. Sutton was initially interviewed for the Giants' KBO managerial job but will instead be in the dugout for their minor league team.

Sutton, who appeared in 252 major league games for four clubs, played in the KBO from 2005 to 2007. While with the Hyundai Unicorns in 2015, Sutton led the KBO with 35 home runs and 102 RBIs.

He managed a Dominican Summer League team for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012 and then worked as the Pirates' minor league hitting coordinator from 2014 to 2018 and spent the 2019 season as hitting coach for the Kansas City Royals' Single-A team, Wilmington Blue Rocks.

The Giants said Sutton shared the club's vision for building a solid player development system and embracing advanced data, and that he was the right man to put that vision into action, thanks to his wealth of playing experience across all levels and his strong communication skills.

Sutton is scheduled to arrive here later this month.

The Giants finished in last place this season with a record of 48-93-3 (wins-losses-ties) and ended the year with an eight-game losing streak. First-year manager Yang Sang-moon stepped down in July and bench coach Kong Pill-sung served as interim manager for the rest of the season.

The Giants said last month that Sutton, former Lotte manager Jerry Royster and ex-KBO player Scott Coolbaugh were three foreign-born candidates in their managerial search, while Kong was one of up to five South Korean candidates for the job.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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