‘Miami’s a different place’: New Hurricanes coach J.D. Arteaga includes ex-teammate on first coaching staff
J.D. Arteaga is a Miami native, and he learned what it meant to be a Hurricane during a four-year career as a UM starting pitcher.
After 21 seasons as the Hurricanes’ pitching coach, Arteaga has a chance to build the Miami baseball program with those ideals. The new UM head coach has hired three assistant coaches; one, pitching coach Laz Guttierez, was Arteaga’s teammate at Miami. Another assistant coach, Jonathan Anderson, has been with the program since 2020.
“Miami’s a different place,” Arteaga said. “It’s not for everybody, No. 1. If you haven’t grown up here, played here, I don’t think you understand what it means to be a Hurricane. Some people from the outside are scared by it.
“So having someone that played here, had success here, played in the College World Series, I think all three of his years, as well, that’s important. It’s important. The expectations here are greater than just about anywhere else in the country, but it’s something we understand, something we look forward to. It’s something we helped create as players, me and Laz.”
Guttierez, the former Nova Southeastern head coach, succeeds Arteaga as the team’s pitching coach. He will also be the team’s mental skills coach. Guttierez went 86-63 in four seasons at Nova. Arteaga and Guttierez were roommates in college, as well.
“It’s a very important hire for me because I’m giving him the pitching, something I’ve done for 21 years,” Arteaga said. “Knowing it’s not something easy to do, but I feel very comfortable handing it over to him. It’s something that, even over the years, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about. I know his philosophy is very similar to mine.”
New assistant coach Darren Fenster comes to Miami from the Boston Red Sox, spending 12 years in that organization as a minor league manager, minor league infield coordinator and minor league outfield coordinator and base running coordinator.
“He checks off a lot of boxes,” Arteaga said. “He’s got a lot of responsibilities. … Myself, being the head coach, being a left-handed pitcher and Laz being the pitching coach, it kind of opens a lot of responsibilities for one other guy that has got to make up the slack for two left-handed pitchers on the staff, and Darren absolutely checked off all those boxes.”
Arteaga and his staff have a lot of work to do in the offseason. Miami lost eight players to the pro ranks, including star third baseman Yohandy Morales and All-American closer Andrew Walters. However, they received good news when standout third-base recruit Daniel Cuvet, the draft’s No. 223 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, announced he intended to keep his UM commitment after being picked late in the draft.
“This year, we just happened to have a lot of hitters and a couple key pitchers that went in the draft,” Arteaga said. “It’s no different than any other years. We’ll use the portal to fill in certain holes, but still, the heart and soul of our recruiting is the high school and junior college level.”