Josh Bonifay

Joshua Cameron Bonifay

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 187 lb.
• School University of North Carolina at Wilmington
• High School T. C. Roberson High School

• Born July 30, 1978 in Macon, GA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Josh Bonifay is the son of Cam Bonifay, the brother of Jonathan Bonifay, the grandson of Bob Bonifay, the nephew of Brannon Bonifay, and the cousin of Ken Bonifay. He spent four seasons at AA, once hitting 25 homers there, but never made it further as a player. He cracked 133 minor league home runs and had a 842 OPS in eight seasons. He later became a coach and manager.

Bonifay was not a hot prospect coming out of college, falling to the 24th round of the 1999 amateur draft before his father's team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, drafted him. In his pro debut, he hit .260/.348/.390 as the starting second baseman for the Williamsport Crosscutters. In 2000, he batted .281/.364/.448 with 14 homers for the Hickory Crawdads, forming a potent middle infield with Jose Castillo. Starting 2001 back with Hickory, Bonifay hit .323/.380/.477 in 17 games, earning a promotion to the Lynchburg Hillcats, where he put up a .298/.355/.467 line in 85 games. He moved to the outfield for much of the season.

In 2002, Bonifay's father was out of the Pirates organization after losing his general manager job, but Josh had his best year yet. He hit .307/.388/.557 with 36 doubles, 26 home runs, 83 runs, 63 walks and 102 RBI. About the only negative was his .941 fielding percentage at second. He led Pirates farmhands in circuit clouts and was among the Carolina League leaders in homers (first), RBI (first), extra-base hits (first), slugging (second to Brad Hawpe), total bases (258, second, 6 behind Hawpe), walks (3rd), runs (4th), average (5th), OBP (5th) and doubles (5th). He was named the league's All-Star second baseman, though Hawpe beat him out for MVP honors. He helped lead Lynchburg to the title. He had been the star batter on a team loaded with future major leaguers such as Ronny Paulino, Castillo, Yurendell de Caster and Chris Duffy.

Bonifay began his long AA career in 2003 with the Altoona Curve, hitting .285/.348/.448 with 30 doubles while moving back to the outfield. Josh slugged 19 homers in 2004, hitting .277/.360/.490 while fielding .993 at his new position, first base. He was one homer shy of team leader Ray Sadler. Six of the other seven regular position players would wind up in the big leagues, but not Bonifay, the club leader in slugging.

Bonifay ended his Altoona run in 2005, producing at a .282/.339/.556 rate with 25 homers and 77 RBI. He led his club in homers, two ahead of 2010 MLB leader Jose Bautista. Josh was third in the Eastern League in slugging (behind Randy Ruiz and Mike Jacobs and tied Jacobs for 4th in homers (behind Shelley Duncan, Ruiz and Jonathan Van Every). He failed to win All-Star honors at first, as those went to Duncan.

For 2006, the veteran minor leaguer signed with the Houston Astros. He hit .261/.318/.480 with 18 home runs as a utility infielder for the Corpus Christi Hooks that year. In game four of the Texas League finals, Josh started a 9th-inning triple play to give Corpus Christi the title, starting by snaring a liner from Alex Gordon. Overall, he had batted .284/.355/.487 in a productive minor league run.

Bonifay rejoined the Pirates organization as a coach after his playing career ended. He was a coach for the Hickory Crawdads in 2008, the GCL Pirates in 2009, and the West Virginia Power in 2010. Bonifay next moved to the Houston Astros organization for several years. He was the hitting coach for the Greeneville Astros in 2011 and the Lexington Legends in 2012. Bonifay spent the next four years managing for the Astros as detailed below. As a manager, Bonifay was named the Appalachian League Manager of the Year in 2013. He won the award a second time in 2015 when he was named Midwest League Manager of the Year after leading Quad Cities to the best winning percentage in minor league baseball (.638, 88-50).

The Texas Rangers hired Bonifay in 2016 as their Major League Field Coordinator, his first time on a major league staff. This job only lasted one season before he re-joined the Astros as their Minor League Field Coordinator. Bonifay received a promotion in 2019 when the Philadelphia Phillies hired him as their Director of Player Development. After three years with the Phillies, Bonifay returned to the Rangers in 2022 in the same position. He continued as the Director through the 2025 season.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2013	Greeneville Astros	Appalachian League	38-30	4th	Houston Astros	Lost League Finals
2014	Greeneville Astros	Appalachian League	32-34	8th	Houston Astros
2015	Quad Cities River Bandits	Midwest League	88-50	1st	Houston Astros	Lost in 1st round
2016	Greeneville Astros	Appalachian League	33-34	6th	Houston Astros