Nate Irving's SHOCKING Journey from Pro Baseball Player to NY Mets Hitting Coach

90 feet Away Podcast

Nate Irving was the primary catcher for three years with the University of Virginia Cavaliers and played for the team that reached the 2014 College World Series final. After that season, he was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 34th round of the 2014 Amateur Draft. He played in the Diamondbacks minor league system in 2014-2015 before spending the next three seasons playing in the independent leagues. In the fall of 2018 Irving returned to UVA to complete his undergraduate degree and also worked with the baseball team as a student assistant coach. This foray into coaching didn't last long as the Cincinnati Reds hired him as their bullpen catcher in 2019. He stayed in this position through the 2021 season. In this role Irving did more than just catch bullpen sessions and warm up pitchers. He was also deeply involved in data analytics, working with both catchers and hitters. Helping Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart win a Gold Glove in 2020 was "probably one of the cooler things that I’ve experienced in my baseball life", he said. In 2022 the Reds named Irving the bench/game planning coach for the Chattanooga Lookouts where he could put his data analytics knowledge to work in a different capacity. He was then hitting coach of the ACL Reds in 2023 and Daytona Tortugas in 2024. Following the 2023 season, Irving worked as a hitting coach for the Bravos de Margarita in the Venezuelan League.