Ironwood Ridge’s new baseball coach is former Pusch Ridge coach Chad Chop, who was on the staff of World Series champion San Francisco Giants in 2014 and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.
Chop, a sixth-round draft pick of the Montreal Expos as a left-handed pitcher, is returning to coaching after leading Pusch Ridge to region titles in 2021 and 2022. The Lions were 34-9 in his two years with the program.
A former San Diego State standout, Chop worked as video replay analyst for the Giants and Dodgers.
His pro baseball career lasted from 2002 to 2006 in the minor leagues before he moved to Tucson and served as a fireman with the Tucson Fire Department from 2007 to 2013.
After meeting former Giants standout Hunter Pence in Orange, Calif., where Chop is from, he was hired by the Giants as a left-handed batting-practice pitcher in 2014.
He also served as a video replay analyst, who informs the manager in the dugout to challenge a call or not.
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