Former Sea Dogs manager tells story of his surprise call-up to Red Sox
Former Sea Dogs skipper Chad Epperson steps into Boston’s third‑base booth
On a quiet Thursday afternoon on the south side of Portland, Maine, a former Portland Sea Dogs manager watched a minor‑league game from the back of the bleachers, the ball flying over his head, his mind already racing to Boston. The day before, he’d received a phone call that would change his career in a single moment.
Craig Breslow, the Red Sox chief baseball officer, had called Epperson from the Sea Dogs’ office after the team’s 4‑3 win over the Hartford Yard Goats. “I’m thinking it’s about Arias, because you know, he was on that tear,” Epperson recalled. “(Breslow) told me the news, and it was just hustle, hustle.” The game had seen prospect Franklin Arias smash a pinch‑hit, opposite‑field walk‑off home run to clinch the victory.
Breslow’s offer was simple: replace Alex Cora in Boston’s coaching staff and serve as the Red Sox’s interim third‑base coach. The move was swift. A private jet took Epperson and his colleagues—interim manager Chad Tracy and interim hitting coach Collin Hetzler—from Portland to Worcester to pick up the players, then onto Baltimore, where the Sox faced the Orioles on Sunday afternoon. The jet arrived at 1 a.m., and the first pitch was thrown at 1:35 p.m.
The Red Sox had fired Cora and a handful of his coaches after a disappointing start to the 2026 season. The organization chose Epperson because of the trust he had built with the players over his four-plus years at Sea Dogs. “It’s just that built‑in trust, that built‑in relationship’s already there,” he said. “They know what I’m about. They know what Tracy’s about.” His familiarity with the club’s Double‑A talent proved useful; many of the players on the Boston roster had been coached by him in Portland, including Ceddanne Rafaela, Payton Tolle, Wilyer Abreu and Nick Sogard.
Epperson’s tenure with the Sea Dogs began in 2022, and he led the club to its highest number of wins in a season. He remains the franchise’s all‑time leader in victories. “You can manage for as many years as I’ve done, and I never thought my first big‑league gig would be as manager,” he told reporters. “You never know, and third base is where they wanted me to be. I’ve always enjoyed coaching third base, so it’s one of those where you get to do it at the apex of the sport. I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to do it.”
Since stepping onto Boston’s field, Epperson has been a key figure in the Sox’s resurgence. He has waved runners home, managed the outfield’s defensive positioning and, according to the club, helped the team “catch fire” after a shaky start. “I don’t think anybody in our clubhouse thought we were as bad as we were,” he said. “And I get that it was not pretty. These guys have stayed the course. Nothing’s changed, really.” He added, “We always knew the identity. We just had to figure out that individual part of the identity. How it was going to come to the surface. Guys bought in, and the next thing you know, we’re reeling off a few wins here. You look up, and it’s ‘Holy crap, that’s 15 in a row.’”
The Sox’s playoff push has been fueled by small‑ball tactics, aggressive baserunning and a renewed focus on pitching and defense—areas that Epperson says were always there. “We’ve done more small ball, which is great. Guys are competing a little more with two strikes,” he observed. “And pitching and defense was always there.”
Back in Portland, the former manager took a moment to watch the Sea Dogs play the Orioles on April 26, the day he’d seen Ceddanne Rafaela tagged out at third base. “It’s bittersweet,” he said. “But that’s baseball.” The journey from manager of a Class‑
