Former Miami Hurricane, pro scout Laz Gutierrez named Nova Southeastern baseball coach
Born and raised in Hialeah, Laz Gutierrez was 5 years old and standing just outside his neighborhood church when he noticed some kids playing across the street.
“What’s that?” Gutierrez said.
The answer changed the boy’s life. It was baseball, and the sport has had a grip on him as tight as a split-fingered fastball ever since.
Gutierrez, a lefty, quickly learned the game at that same spot where he saw those kids playing, Babcock Park, and went on to pitch for the Miami Hurricanes. He then played three seasons of minor-league baseball and spent the past 13 years in various capacities with the Boston Red Sox, including scouting, coaching and the title of “mental skills coordinator”.
On Friday, Gutierrez, 43, was named the new head coach of the Nova Southeastern University baseball team, replacing Greg Brown, who took a job as a hitting coordinator with the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Gutierrez said college baseball is where he has wanted to be for a long time.
“Life is like a book with different chapters,” Gutierrez said. “I’m excited for this chapter because I get to do something I’m passionate about [baseball] while also spending more time with my family. It feels like destiny.”
Even before getting hired by NSU, Gutierrez and his family were already entrenched in Broward County. His wife, Jeanette, is a teacher at American Heritage, and their two pre-teen children attend school there.
Gutierrez’s parents, Cuban immigrants Aguedo and Dulce, still live in the same Hialeah house where he grew up.
And, after a high school career at Brito, Gutierrez served primarily as Robbie Morrison’s set-up man in the Hurricanes’ bullpen. Gutierrez was at UM for three seasons, and all his teams made it to the College World Series.
In 1996, Miami suffered one of the most painful losses in school history — in any sport. Miami was one strike away from a national title when Warren Morris of LSU took Morrison deep for a two-run, walk-off homer, his only blast of the season.
In 1998, Miami — led by Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff — was the second-seeded CWS team but got knocked out in three games. Gutierrez signed a pro contract following that season after the Detroit Tigers drafted him in the 13th round.
The next year, Gutierrez was playing rookie-league ball in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when the Hurricanes finally got back on the top podium, winning the College World Series for the first time in 14 years.
“I had happy emotions,” Gutierrez said, “and sad emotions.”
After that season, Gutierrez was released by the Tigers. He got one more chance in the minors, but was released by the San Diego Padres in 2001, finishing his pro career with a 5-4 record and a 4.40 ERA.
Three days after his final release, Gutierrez was in the office of his former college coach, Jim Morris. Gutierrez was looking to become a coach, and he landed the top job at Coral Gables High.
In two years there, he coached future big-league star Yonder Alonso and two other players who reached the majors: Eddy Rodriguez (now the Marlins’ catching coach) and Jonathan Diaz.
From there, Gutierrez became the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Barry University.
Then, despite never applying for a job in pro baseball, he got calls from two major-league organizations on the same fall day of 2006: the Toronto Blue Jays and the Red Sox.
He chose the Red Sox and became a Florida area scout, helping the organization select former Douglas first baseman Anthony Rizzo in the sixth round of the 2007 MLB draft.
All of those experiences for Gutierrez led him to NSU. Just as with the calls from pro baseball, Gutierrez said he was minding his own business when NSU athletic director Michael Mominey — who had coached him in summer ball when he was 16 — called him to see if he would be interested in Brown.
Gutierrez said yes and he now inherits an NCAA Division II program that Brown took to a national championship in 2016. Gutierrez, who has retained the previous coaching staff, missed fall ball, and he will have to learn quickly when the regular season starts next month.
It won’t be easy, but Gutierrez said he has borrowed a little from each of his mentors, including Red Sox manager Alex Cora, a former Hurricanes shortstop and teammate.
“Alex was the same leader at Miami that he is now,” said Gutierrez, who was with the Red Sox when they won World Series titles in 2007, 2013 and 2018. “He is authentic and honest with the players. He cares about his players as people. He empowers his players.
“Those are things I have always believed in, and that will be the foundation of what we do at NSU. In every decision we make, what is best for the player is the core foundation that guides us.”