Jon Deeble

Who is Jon Deeble?

Jon Deeble is currently the head coach of the Australia national baseball team.

Deeble was a pitcher on the national team he now coaches from 1983 to 1995, a playing career which included the 1988 Olympics and an Australian Baseball League championship with the Melbourne Monarchs in 1993. He later went on to be a minor league manager in North American professional baseball, working in the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox organisations. He currently is coordinator of scouting for the Pacific Rim region for the Red Sox.

Deeble managed the Australian squad at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, leading the team to a silver medal in the latter Games. Deeble was Australia's manager, as well, in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and 2009 World Baseball Classic.

With the Red Sox, he was manager of the Lowell Spinners in 2003 – earlier, he had spent four seasons as manager of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast Marlins – and was a first base coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2005. As a scout, Deeble has signed countless young Australian hopefuls through the Australian Major League Baseball Academy, however, in Asia, he has signed such names as Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima