How Two Career Journeymen Look to Make It Back to the Majors as Coaches
Published on July 25, 2023 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - He had a tough time containing his excitement. A decade of teetering between MLB and the minors, rehabilitating from a slew of injuries, learning a new culture, it all seemed to pay off in this moment.
Guillermo Quiroz, a then catcher with the San Francisco Giants, was the last player on the bench. Pinch-hitting in the bottom of the 10th inning, Quiroz quickly fell behind in the count 0-2. The next pitch, Quiroz didn't miss.
He was looking for a splitter in the at-bat and had one hanging over the plate. With a swift, powerful swing, Quiroz clubbed a solo homer to left field, breaking a 9-9 deadlock to deliver a walk-off victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park.
It was May 5, 2013, in Quiroz's first season with the defending World Series champions.
He tossed his bat and embarked on a euphoric trot while pumping his right fist in the air. The struggles he faced for so many years appeared to be alleviated as fans rained down applause. As he approached second, though, his expression changed. It was almost solemn. Like something was keeping him grounded.
"I played with [Dodgers pitcher] Brandon League before," Quiroz said. "He's one of the best teammates I've ever had. As soon as I got to the halfway point between first and second, I said, 'Oh my god, I just did this to this guy.'"
Quiroz, the current manager of the Winston-Salem Dash, said he later apologized to League, who could only laugh off the exchange. That humility may seem extreme in hindsight, but it has played an integral role in Quiroz's journey. It's how he managed to stick around through a decade of promotions and demotions and maintain trust in a long, grueling process.
Looking back on his odyssey, Quiroz appreciates the experience. In San Francisco, Quiroz backed up potential Hall of Fame backstop Buster Posey and was able to catch for 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
He cherished the relationships along the way and credits the travel for enhancing his maturity.
"I think it actually helped me out," Quiroz said. "My first time being a free agent was in 2006. All the way from 2006 until 2017, I became a free agent every year. It opened up my eyes and helped me understand a lot more. I knew that I had to have a good season to get a job for the next year."
Long before life as a journeyman, Quiroz was a Little League World Series champion. A native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, Quiroz caught every game for the Coquivacoa Little League squad in their road to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the site of the 1994 Little League World Series.
At 12 years old, Quiroz was playing in the United States for the first time in his life. He recalls being struck by the freshly manicured green grass, something he wasn't accustomed to on his home diamonds. Collectively, the team was laser-focused; capturing Venezuela's first title was all they could think about.
"We were so locked in," Quiroz said. "We saw the other kids always playing around in the pool and we used to say to each other, 'Hey don't go in there, you're going to get tired for the game.' We saw the kids in their [batting] cage playing around, and we took advantage."
Quiroz caught the final strike of the championship game against the Northridge, California Little League team and remembers the unfettered joy of rushing into a dogpile near the pitcher's mound. It was the sport in its purest form, something Quiroz relishes as a baseball lifer.
That passion persisted. Two years later, he started drawing the eyes of professional scouts. Quiroz and the Maracaibo representatives participated in the 1996 Senior League World Series in Kissimmee, Florida.
Accompanied by his mother, who couldn't speak any English at the time, Quiroz yet again enjoyed a championship win over a California team. This time around was different. There was a serious, growing buzz surrounding Quiroz's talents.
He started taking English classes and executing a strict regimen on the field and in the gym. Shortly after, at 16 years old in 1998, Quiroz was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays. A burgeoning prospect, Quiroz progressed through Toronto's system as their No. 1 catcher.
Only, without the high school or collegiate experience that nearly all of his colleagues had, Quiroz was left playing catchup.
"To be honest, I was really immature," Quiroz said. "I think that has a lot to do with how my career went in the first couple of years. I got put on a 40-man roster at a really young age and had no idea what that meant."
He suffered a collapsed lung in 2003, which would be the first of two such occurrences in as many years. The outset of Quiroz's career was marred by injuries, and in 2006, he was put on waivers for the first time.
The next ten years included time with the Texas Rangers, the Baltimore Orioles, three stints with the Seattle Mariners, the San Diego Padres, the Boston Red Sox, the Giants and the then Cleveland Indians.
Quiroz had some unforgettable moments, including his walk-off slam and a World Series victory with the Giants in 2014. The minor league grind began to wear on him over the years, but baseball was his life.
"I realized if I wanted to stay in baseball, I had to work hard and understand that I needed to be mature," Quiroz said.
Jason Krizan remembers the call like it was yesterday.
As injuries and illnesses decimated the San Francisco Giants outfield in the early parts of the 2022 season, manager Gabe Kapler turned to Krizan, a lefty bat in the midst of his 11th season playing minor league ball. He had played 1,132 games in total.
He had seen every level of the minors. He had traveled all around the Midwest, the Northeast and the west coast with stints in the Dominican Republic Winter League. Krizan - who was selected in the eighth round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers - was finally going to the show.
Ahead of a weekend series against the Washington Nationals at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Krizan remembers his phone buzzing. It was Kapler.
"Kap called me and said you're starting tomorrow in left field," Krizan, now the hitting coach of the Winston-Salem Dash, said. "I was like 'no way.' I didn't know how that call would really go, but I said, 'Let's go!' a couple of times and was playing the next day."
At 32 years old, Krizan's lifelong dream was being realized. In the series opener on April 29, Krizan went 0-for-3. But he did reach base with a walk. It was a tremendous milestone, but it wasn't quite as memorable as what would occur two days later.
In the bottom of the fifth inning on May 1, the series finale, Krizan was up with two outs. Washington pitcher Josiah Gray tossed a 95-mile-per-hour fastball inside, and Krizan smacked it to right field for a single.
He turned on the jets and arrived at first base, where he gave a couple of energetic claps and a fist bump to the base coach. With his wife Kristi and two-year-old son Carter in the stands, Krizan had done something that most could only dream of.
"There was so much anticipation built up over it. The Giants did a wonderful job playing the situation," Krizan said. "I had been playing 11 years in the minor leagues, had over 1,000 hits and that standing ovation was awesome. It's something that I'll remember forever."
Krizan had been overlooked for most of his playing career. He had a handful of mid-major Division I offers coming out of Pflugerville High School in Texas but watched as teammates garnered interest from high-level schools and even MLB.
He decided on Dallas Baptist University, where he would go on to have a decorated four-year career. In his 2011 senior campaign, Krizan batted .413 and slugged .700 with 81 RBI en route to All-American honors. He hit 39 doubles that season, an NCAA record that still stands.
After four years of rising through the minor league ranks, Krizan made it to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers' Triple-A affiliate. Despite being a consistent on-base threat and expanding his skillset as a utility man, Krizan couldn't crack a 40-man roster.
He batted .365 with the Triple-A Syracuse Mets in 2019, but he remained in the minors. It became almost cruel. Still, Krizan continued to work. Where so many players could have conceivably given up, Krizan persevered.
"I was just a grinder," Krizan said. "I would always try to be the best player on the field whenever I could. Whenever things went south, I had to keep that mentality."
Once Krizan finally had his shot in the big leagues, it was brief. He was recalled to Triple-A after the Nationals series, where he remained for the rest of the season. Krizan hadn't given much thought to his future of playing until after a hitting session that December.
He was working out at the University of Texas in Austin and felt a discernable lack of enjoyment. Krizan, whose love of the game drove him through over a decade of life as a journeyman, had finally decided to retire.
It wasn't just a fading proclivity for the daily grind of being a professional baseball player. Krizan began to feel a few steps slower and have more trouble getting his body ready for the day. On top of that, he wanted to be around for his son.
"I want to be able to throw with my son and be around him," Krizan said. "If I continued playing maybe I would have had some injury that wouldn't have allowed me to do everything I could to be a dad."
Nearly nine years apart to the day, Quiroz and Krizan made life-changing swings in the Giants uniform. Now, they work closely alongside one another in Winston-Salem, with Quiroz as the club's skipper and Krizan as the hitting coach.
All told, their ample playing experience is evident in how they coach. During batting practice, Quiroz is a lively presence, sporting purple and black Nike Jordans and bouncing around wherever he's needed. He could be lining sharp grounders around the infield or grabbing a mitt to take reps at first base.
Krizan has constant conversations with his batters. He saunters behind the hitting cage, helping his players refine details and nuances in their approaches. Most importantly, Quiroz and Krizan can relate to the team in ways that perhaps some coaches can't.
"I'm fresh out of it. They all know that I was a player last year," Krizan said. "Whether they're struggling or playing well, I know the situation they're going through so I can help talk them through it."
While the 2023 season is Krizan's first as a coach, Quiroz has a few years of experience under his belt. He was a coach with the Dash and Triple-A Charlotte Knights in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and became manager of the Class A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers in 2020.
As a former catcher, Quiroz has a strong relationship with his pitchers. He helps pore over scouting reports and works with them on both technical aspects and their mindset. When game time comes, Quiroz is locked in.
Operating also as the third base coach, Quiroz said the thrill of waving runners home mirrors the rush he felt as a player. Although Krizan is generally less animated during games, he still takes pride in his fiery nature.
"The competitive side is still coming out as far as getting these guys ready to go each and every night," Krizan said. "I'm able to work with them every day, develop routines, get some challenging batting practice in there and get them ready to play."
The preparation from Quiroz and Krizan has manifested in the team's results this season. A handful of players are having career years, and Kannapolis callups Colson Montgomery, Jacob Burke and Tim Elko have torn the cover off the ball in Winston-Salem over the last month.
Quiroz and Krizan are at slightly different stages of their lives and careers. Though they've created families and received respite from the instability they knew all too well as players, Winston-Salem won't be their final destination.
Both Quiroz and Krizan have goals of making it back to MLB.
They believe the unwavering determination that helped them reach that point once will aid them in their journey back as coaches.
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