Chad Mottola

Charles Edward "Chad" Mottola (born October 15, 1971) is an American professional baseball coach and a former player. He is currently the hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Mottola is an alumnus of the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he played college baseball for the UCF Knights. A highly regarded prospect, Mottola was selected by the Cincinnati Reds with the fifth overall selection of the 1992 MLB draft, one spot ahead of Derek Jeter.

Mottola played in MLB for five years as an outfielder. Considered a journeyman, After leading all Broward County high school players in batting average (.573), home runs (14) and runs batted in (RBIs) (48) as a senior, Mottola was named to Florida's Class 3A All-State first team. Out of high school, the Baltimore Orioles selected Mottola in the tenth round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft, with the 243rd overall selection. Mottola did not sign with the Orioles, opting to pursue a college baseball career. During the season, he batted .343 with nine home runs and 54 RBIs. After the 1991 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

In his junior season, he batted .345 with 14 home runs, tying the UCF single-season record.

Professional career The Cincinnati Reds drafted Mottola in the first round of the 1992 Major League Baseball draft with the fifth overall selection, one selection ahead of Derek Jeter. He signed with the Reds the day of the draft, receiving a signing bonus of $400,000, as he attended the United States national baseball team tryouts for the 1992 Summer Olympics, and did not want to have his contract status on his mind during the tryouts. He was the first UCF athlete to be selected in the first round of an MLB draft.

In his first professional season, Mottola led the Billings Mustangs to the Pioneer League championship, batting .286 with 12 home runs and 37 runs batted in (RBIs). Baseball America rated Mottola as the 71st best prospect in baseball before the 1993 season. Playing a full season for the first time in 1993, he batted .280 for the Winston-Salem Spirits with 21 home runs and led the Class-A Advanced Carolina League with 91 RBIs. With the Syracuse SkyChiefs, the Class-AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, in 2000, Mottola batted .309 in 134 games with 505 at-bats, 156 hits, 85 runs, 25 doubles, 3 triples, 33 home runs, 102 RBI, 37 walks, 30 stolen bases and 99 strikeouts. He led the league in home runs and also in slugging percentage, had the second highest RBI, was fourth in the league in hits and extra-base hits, and had the seventh highest batting average. He was named an International League All-Star outfielder in 2000, and won the International League Most Valuable Player Award.

After the 2000 season, the Blue Jays traded Mottola to the Florida Marlins for a player to be named later or cash. He played for the Marlins' Class-AAA affiliate, the Calgary Cannons of the PCL, and appeared in five games for the Marlins. In 2002, Mottola returned to Syracuse. He began the 2003 season with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization, playing for the Class-AAA Durham Bulls, but was released. He signed with the Boston Red Sox on June 12 to replace Julio Zuleta, who had signed to play in Japan, on the Class-AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. Mottola signed with the Orioles for the 2004 season, splitting his time between MLB and the Class-AAA Ottawa Lynx. In 2005, he returned to the Blue Jays organization, playing with Syracuse. He was promoted to MLB in 2006, but spent the majority of the 2005 through 2007 seasons with Syracuse.

Transition to coaching Mottola retired after the 2007 season. During his final seasons, Mottola began to play less and serve as a mentor to younger players, making for a transition into a coaching career. From 2010 to 2012, he was the hitting coach for the Las Vegas 51s, Toronto's Triple-A affiliate at the time. On October 7, 2013, the Blue Jays announced that Mottola would not be returning for the 2014 season.

In November 2013, Mottola was hired by the Tampa Bay Rays as their minor-league hitting coordinator. The Rays promoted Mottola to become their major league hitting coach in September 2016.

Personal life

Mottola was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida. When Mottola signed with the Reds in 1992, he bought his parents a house.

Mottola met his wife, Emily, at UCF. She played for the school's volleyball team. They had a son in 2005 and a daughter in 2008.