Red Sox complete coaching makeover by adding former Guardians outfielder who was working with Yankees’ pipeline

Earlier this offseason the Boston Red Sox staked their cart to Chad Tracy when they removed the interim manager tag and inked him to a three-year contract to Boston’s manager for the foreseeable future. 

And a new face got added to his staff on Thursday when the Red Sox hired former Guardians outfielder Shelley Duncan to serve on Tracy’s big league staff. Masslive’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdams were the first to report the news. 

Although Duncan’s had a middling career as an MLB journeyman (that included a stint in Cleveland), he’s spent the last decade rising the coaching ranks, and now will be a key piece for a Red Sox team looking on build on last year’s postseason bid. 

Former Guardians outfielder Shelley Duncan is now a big league coach with the Red Sox

The best years of Duncan’s big league career came during his time in Cleveland, as he posted a .739 OPS in his three seasons with the Guardians while hitting 33 of his 43 big league home runs. Almost all of that production came in the 2010 and ‘11 seasons even though he had trouble staying on the field due to injuries. He was a solid outfielder with above-average power potential, but it mostly got lost to history due to the fact it came during one of the worst periods in recent Guardians history. 

Duncan started his career with some sporadic playing time with the Yankees over three years, and finished his career with a 20-game cameo with the Rays in 2013. 

He’s moved around a lot since retiring, with stints on the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, White Sox and Yankees. He’s spent the past three seasons coaching the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, where he’s helped mold young Yankees like Anthony Volpe, George Lombard Jr. and Jasson Domínguez, among others. 

Duncan’s appointment to the Red Sox’s coaching staff came a day after the Red Sox added Jason Bell to their coaching staff for a yet-to-be-determined role after previously coaching with the Astros. 

It looked like Boston’s 2026 season was starting to circle the drain early in the year when they fired longtime manager Alex Cora, but Tracy helped Boston turn things around, though they ended up losing to the Yankees in the Wild Card Series while the Guardians earned a bye to the Division Series. 

While the Red Sox have yet to announce what role Duncan will fill on the Red Sox’s coaching staff, it’s clear that he’s a talented communicator given he was able to have success in the pressure cooker that comes with coaching for the Yankees. He may not have done much with the Guardians, but he could use those skills to become a beloved part of Boston’s coaching staff.

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