Nine Questions with Dragons Manager Vince Harrison Jr.

Vince Harrison Jr. served as manager of the Dayton Dragons in 2024 and will return in the same role in 2025. In 2024, Harrison guided the Dragons to a record of 74-58 (.561) as the team won a Second Half division title for the first time since 2011 and qualified for the Midwest League playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Harrison has 11 seasons of minor league managing/coaching experience. Prior to serving as the Dragons manager in 2024, he worked as a coach with the Reds Triple-A club, the Louisville Bats, in 2023. Harrison played at Princeton High School in Cincinnati before starring in both baseball and football at the University of Kentucky. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2001 and spent four years as a player in their farm system, reaching the Double-A level. His best seasons came in 2003 with Charleston (.275 batting average with 19 home runs) and 2004 with Bakersfield and Montgomery (.275, 16 home runs, .838 OPS). Harrison enjoyed a nine-year professional career as a player in the Rays, Mets, and Marlins systems as a third baseman.

After Harrison’s playing career ended following the 2011 season, he was hired as a coach by the Pirates. He joined the Diamondbacks organization as a hitting coach in 2014 and spent five years in that role before becoming a manager. He managed for three years in the Diamondbacks system before joining the Reds organization in 2023.

We spoke with Vince in the off-season on a variety of topics. Here is the conversation for Minor League Baseball’s “The Nine” initiative:

Q: What was your most memorable moment as manager of the Dragons in 2024?

VH: “The day we clinched to qualify for the playoffs in Great Lakes. The smiles and hugs from everyone were priceless.” (The Dragons clinched their first post-season berth since 2017 with a 1-0 victory over the Great Lakes Loons on September 2, 2024 in Midland, Michigan)

Q: As you were playing sports as a kid in the Cincinnati area, who was your role model?

VH: “My role models playing sports as a kid were my uncle John Shelby and Barry Larkin. To see my family and a local guy doing big things made me want to follow in their footsteps. My uncle was #31 and Barry was #11. I have always worn #13 as a tribute to them because it combines their numbers.” (Vince’s uncle, John Shelby, played 11 years in the Major Leagues, mostly with the Orioles and Dodgers. He played in more than 1,000 MLB games and hit a career high 22 home runs in 1987.)

Q: Over the course of your long career in professional baseball as a player, coach, or manager, what player do you feel you impacted the most as a teammate or in a leadership role?

VH: “The player that I feel I have impacted the most in a leadership role is my brother, Josh. He watched me going through the minor leagues. He saw me get injured and rehab and lose two seasons. He got a glimpse into my world at an early age and he saw good things and bad. I was able to talk to him and prepare him to be a pro. (Josh Harrison went on to play 13 years in the Major Leagues, collecting over 1,000 career hits, and playing to two MLB All-Star games).

Q: What advice do you have for the new generation of baseball players?

VH: “Don’t be satisfied with average. Strive for greatness.”

Q: Aside from Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, what is your all-time favorite minor league stadium to play in or coach in?

VH: “Other than Dayton, I always liked playing and coaching in Jacksonville.”

Q: You played football at the University of Kentucky. How did that help you as a baseball player or future manager?

VH: “Playing football at UK helped me as a future manager because I learned to read the room with a big group. I learned to build relationships with a lot of people. It prepared me for supreme competition and rowdy crowds.”

Q: What kind of adversity have you dealt with as a player or coach and how did you overcome those challenges?

VH: “Adversities that I dealt with include multiple wrist surgeries that affected my swing and caused me to miss time. I never regained the range of motion. I tore my quad after missing a year with my wrist injury and missed the next season. Two years of rehab when I would’ve been in Triple A, knocking on the door to the show. Those times built my faith even more and continued to make me persevere. Everybody has something going on and this was a reminder to never feel sorry for myself and keep working.”

Q: If you could offer some advice on how baseball could grow the game, what would you suggest?

VH: “To grow the game, I would encourage those people in the game to work with and teach young players the things that they have learned. Baseball is a sport that produces a lot of failure and we can’t let younger players get discouraged at an early age.”

Q: As an African American manager in professional baseball, you have followed in the footsteps of hall of famer Frank Robinson, who became baseball’s first black manager in 1975. As we celebrate Black History Month, what does it mean to you to be able to help the next generation of African American baseball players get to the Major Leagues?

VH: “It means so much to help the next generation of African American players get to the big leagues. There is a small percentage of players and coaches in the Major Leagues and I don’t want to allow that to become a discouraging factor for the next generation. I will continue to strive to be a positive role model and someone that others can look up to, as someone they know cares for them and their career and wants to help them achieve greatness.”