Chris Woodward

Few individuals can dream of a career at the highest level of sport as an athlete and as a coach.  For Chris Woodward, this is a reality. 

A local product, Woodward attended Northview High School (Covina, CA), from 1991 to 1994.  While at Northview, he starred on the varsity baseball team for 3 seasons, earning All-League (twice), 1^st team All-Valley (’94) and 2^nd team All-CIF (’94) honors.  Out of high school, he was drafted in the 54^th round by the Toronto Blue Jays, but chose instead to attend Mt. SAC and play for legendary Mt. SAC Hall of Fame Baseball Coach, Art Mazmanian.       

Woodward played one spectacular season (’95) for the Mounties, batting .445 and earning All-South Coast Conference, All-SoCal and All-State Honors.  At the end of the season, he entered professional baseball, signing with the Toronto Blue Jays (from ’94 draft). 

He spent the first 10 years of his career (1995-2004) in the Blue Jays organization, playing in the Major Leagues from 1999 to 2004.  Woodward’s Major League Baseball (MLB) debut came on June 7th, 1999 against the New York Mets.  Playing shortstop, he went 1 for 3, with 2 RBI’s, against Mets’ starting pitcher and Cy Young Award Winner, Orel Hershiser.  With the Blue Jays, Woodward had a career high 3 home run game, against the Seattle Mariners, on August 7, 2002.  

In 2005, Woodward signed with the New York Mets, playing numerous different positions and helping the Mets with two game winning hits.  In 2006, the team came one step short of the World Series, losing in the 7th game of the National League Championship Series.

In 2007, he signed with the Atlanta Braves for one season, before signing with the Milwaukee Brewers and playing with their AAA Affiliate in Nashville.  From 2009-2012 he split time between the AAA and MLB levels with numerous teams including the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays, before retiring on November 1st, 2012.  Woodward finished with career batting average of .239, with 33 homeruns and 191 RBI’s. 

Woodward’s coaching career began with the Seattle Mariners organization as a minor league infield coordinator, in 2012.  He quickly moved up, becoming the Mariners Infield Coach in 2014 and First Base Coach in 2015.

In 2016, he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers organization as infield coach, before moving up to third base coach, on December 17^th, 2015.  Woodward helped guide the Dodgers to back-to-back World Series appearances in ‘17 and ’18.  During this time, he also managed New Zealand in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualification tournament (’16).

On November 2^nd, 2018, Woodward signed a 3-year contract to manage the Texas Rangers.  He managed the Rangers for 498 games, until August of 2022.

Woodward currently works for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a front office special assistant and as a roving infield instructor.  He is a graduate of the University of Phoenix with a degree in Business Management and a 4.0 GPA.

Woodward and his lovely wife Erin have been married for the past 22 years.  The Woodward’s reside in Chandler, Arizona and are proud parents of three children: daughter Sophie (22) and sons Mason (16) and Grady (14).