Garvin Alston


Garvin James Alston Sr. is a retired American professional baseball right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Colorado Rockies. After retiring from playing, he entered coaching and previously served as the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins.

Career

Alston is an alumnus of Florida International University in Miami, Florida and Mercy College. In 1990 and 1991, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 10th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball draft. He made his MLB debut with the Rockies on June 6, 1996. He played in six games before pitching in his final game on June 18, 1996.
Alston coached in the Oakland Athletics organization from 2005 to 2015. He served as pitching coach of the Class A Kane County Cougars and Class A-Advanced Stockton Ports, minor league rehab coordinator, and minor league pitching coordinator. The Arizona Diamondbacks hired Alston as their bullpen coach for the 2016 season. In June 2017, he was re-hired by the Athletics as the major league bullpen coach. Alston served as pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins during the 2018 season, but did not return when new manager Rocco Baldelli was hired in the offseason. Alston's highlights with the Twins included improving the command and pitch selection of reliever Ryan Pressly.

Personal life

Alston's son, Garvin Altson Jr., was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2015 and 2019, joining the organization in the latter year. Alston is the cousin of former Major League Baseball outfielder Dell Alston.