The Arizona Diamondbacks officially unveiled their minor league coaching staffs this week, highlighted by the return of Javier Colina as field manager of the Amarillo Sod Poodles for the 2026 season. Colina will be joined by a blend of familiar faces and new additions as Amarillo looks to build on last year’s playoff momentum in the Texas League.
Colina, 46, is set for his second consecutive season at the helm in Amarillo after guiding the Sod Poodles to a 71–67 record in 2025 and a postseason berth. Amarillo clinched the South Division Second Half title with a 39–30 record, earning a spot in the Texas League playoffs and finishing with the third-most wins in a single season in franchise history. The 2026 campaign marks Colina’s fifth season as a field manager within the Diamondbacks’ system and his 12th year overall coaching for the organization.
A key figure in Arizona’s player development pipeline, Colina has previously managed the Arizona League Diamondbacks, High-A Hillsboro, and Single-A Visalia, in addition to leading the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League in 2023. Across 551 career managerial games, he owns a 264–287 (.479) record. Before coaching, the Venezuelan native enjoyed a 14-year professional playing career, appearing in more than 1,100 minor league games and posting a .263 batting average with 81 home runs and 519 RBI.
Joining Colina once again are pitching coach Gabriel Hernandez and hitting coach Ty Wright, both returning from the 2025 staff. Hernandez enters his second season in Amarillo after overseeing one of the organization’s more effective Double-A pitching staffs, highlighted by a 4.98 team ERA—Amarillo’s third-best mark since 2021. A former third-round pick of the New York Mets, Hernandez brings extensive experience as both a coach and scout within the Diamondbacks organization.
Wright returns as hitting coach after leading a potent Sod Poodles offense that paced all of Double-A baseball in hits (1,248) and slugging percentage (.432) last season. A former Oklahoma State standout and seven-year professional player in the Cubs system, Wright has steadily risen through Arizona’s minor league ranks since joining the organization.
Amarillo will also welcome several new coaches for 2026, starting with Ronald Ramirez and Jaime Del Valle, who will serve as co–bench coaches. Ramirez, a Colombian native, enters his ninth season coaching in the Diamondbacks system and brings international experience, including coaching for Colombia in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Del Valle, in his fifth year with Arizona, previously coached at Triple-A Reno and Visalia, and is expected to join Colombia’s staff for the 2026 World Baseball Classic as well.
Rounding out the staff are Joe Leo as Strength & Conditioning Coach and Haruki Mukohchi as athletic trainer. Leo joins Amarillo after previous stops in Hillsboro and the Arizona Complex League, while Mukohchi makes his Double-A debut following award-winning work in Hillsboro, where he was named Northwest League Trainer of the Year in 2024.
