Yesterday, it was announced via the New York Post that the Yankees had promoted their former infield prospect and minor league coach, Dan Fiorito, to the big league club as their first base coach.
Fiorito, a Yonkers, NY-native, attended Fordham Prep. in the Bronx, graduating in 2009 as their Most Outstanding Athlete, before attending Manhattanville University. He played with the Valiants for 3 years, but missed playing in his freshman year due to injury. The Yankees signed Fiorito in 2012 as an undrafted free agent, and made his professional debut with the (then) High-A Tampa Yankees in April 2013. Fiorito shared the field in Tampa with current Major Leaguers Rob Refsnyder and Gary Sanchez, then later played on the Trenton Thunder (former AA affiliate) with Luis Severino in 2014 and Aaron Judge in 2015, among others.
Fiorito primarily played the corners during his pro career, spending most of his time – 1083 innings – at third base, with first base coming in at 726 innings. However, he also spent some time at second base and shortstop; Fiorito was drafted as a shortstop. Fiorito recorded a career slash line of .240/.308/.317/.624 with 7 HR and 98 RBI over the course of 4 seasons and 326 games. He went on the IL in July 2016 due to a left elbow injury, and didn’t return to pro ball after that after being released ahead of the 2017 season.
However, the Yankees hired Fiorito to become a defensive coach for the Pulaski Yankees, their Advanced Rookie level affiliate (now defunct), in 2017. He then became a defensive coach in (then) Low-A Charleston before joining the Gulf Coast League Yankees East as manager in 2019. After the major MiLB re-organization, Fiorito became manager for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades in 2021, where he first coached Anthony Volpe. He then had the same opportunity in 2022 after both were promoted to Double-A Somerset, where Fiorito was named the Eastern League Manager of the Year. During that season, the Patriots recorded a Double-A best 83-53 record and won their first Eastern League championship as a Yankees affiliate. Notably, current assistant hitting coach, Jake Hirst, who was also recently promoted from the Minor League coaching ranks, was Fiorito’s hitting coach in Somerset. In 2023, he was promoted to become the Yankees’ roving infield/outfield coach, before being named the Minor League infield/outfield coordinator in 2024.
Given his experience in the field during his Minor League career plus his coaching/managerial career, Fiorito is expected to fill the same role, infield coach, as outgoing first base coach, Travis Chapman, had previously held. Considering his time playing and coaching in the Minor Leagues, he has worked or played with 5 of the 10 expected 2026 starters: Domínguez, Jones, Judge, Rice and Wells, among others like Cabrera and Escarra. That may be a significant reason why the Yankees decided to promote him to the big league club, similar to why the Yankees also promoted Jake Hirst, the Yankees’ former Minor League hitting coordinator, a few weeks ago.
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