As the Red Sox fill out Chad Tracy’s coaching staff for 2027, they are turning to another Triple-A manager from a big league family.
Shelley Duncan is joining the major league staff in a to-be-defined role, league sources said Wednesday night, making him the second such addition in as many weeks. The Red Sox recently brought on Jason Bell as outfield instructor.
Duncan, 47, spent the past four seasons as the manager of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate — making him Tracy’s International League counterpart while with Worcester, until the Red Sox elevated him to the major league gig in April.
Tracy said shortly after his promotion that he was “hopeful” for those in similar spots, in an era when being a minor league manager doesn’t always come with a path to the majors.
“I have a lot of counterparts in the International League, for example. There’s some really bright baseball minds, really good managers that I managed against for the last [four-plus years],” Tracy said in an interview with the Globe in April. “And they’re really, really good at what they do, and they’re down there, grinding, putting in time to put themselves in the spot to manage different situations or whatever. And I think that needs to be recognized. I’m proud of that, and I wanted to speak on their behalf for that.”
Like Tracy, the son of former major league manager Jim Tracy, Duncan grew up around the game. His father is Dave Duncan, who spent a half-century in professional baseball, mostly as a pitching coach for the Indians, Mariners, White Sox, Athletics, and Cardinals.
A second-round draft pick by the Yankees in 2001, Shelley Duncan spent time in the majors with the Yankees (2007-09), Indians (2010-12), and Rays (2013), and transitioned to coaching/managing in 2015. He previously held major league roles with the Blue Jays and White Sox.
His brother, Chris, played parts of five seasons with the Cardinals (2005-09).
Shelley Duncan, whose hiring was first reported by MassLive, joins Andrew Bailey as Red Sox coaches who played in the majors.
Following an offseason shakeup of Tracy’s staff — after the April shakeup that put him and others in interim roles — the Red Sox had at least two openings: first base coach and third base coach.
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.