College Baseball Now

David Esquer, Stanford Cardinal

09.14.2017 - By Bill BallewPlay

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The Stanford Cardinal named David Esquer as the Pac-12 school’s Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball on June 16, 2017.

Esquer is the 21st head coach in program history, succeeding Mark Marquess, who retired after 41 years at the helm of the Cardinal. Esquer played under Marquess on Stanford’s 1987 national championship team, and served as an assistant on The Farm from 1991-96. He spent the last 18 years as the head coach at Cal, where he was the 2011 National Coach of the Year, and led the Bears to five NCAA Regionals and the 2011 College World Series.

While at Cal, Esquer was 525-467-2 (.528), was named the 2001 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, produced 13 All-Americans and mentored 81 Major League draft picks, including five first-round selections. Brandon Morrow became the highest draft pick in school history when he was the fifth pick overall by the Seattle Mariners in 2006, and, most recently, right-handed pitcher Daulton Jefferies was drafted in the 2016 first round by the Oakland A’s.

A shortstop at Stanford from 1984-87, Esquer was a starter on the Cardinal’s 1987 College World Series championship team. He earned all-tournament honors after hitting .350 with six RBI in Omaha. He also earned All-Pac-10 Southern Division honors as a senior, batting .318 with 41 RBI and 16 stolen bases. Esquer went on to play professional baseball for four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, California Angels and Milwaukee Brewers.

Following his playing career, Esquer spent six seasons as an assistant under Coach Marquess. That included five NCAA Regional appearances and a fifth-place finish at the 1995 College World Series.

In three seasons as the top assistant at Pepperdine, Esquer was the program’s chief recruiting coordinator as well as hitting instructor, infield coach and handler of the third base coaching duties.

Esquer was a three-sport star and class valedictorian at Palma High School in Salinas. He was tabbed the “Athlete of the Year” at Palma High School after being named team captain and MVP in baseball, football and basketball.

Esquer earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford in 1987. He and his wife, Lynn, have a daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Xavier.

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