Dodgers’ longtime trainer Stan Conte resigns

The first off-season change to the Dodgers has arrived, and not from a completely expected area.

Stan Conte, the Dodgers’ vice president of medical services and head trainer for the past nine years, announced his resignation Saturday.

Conte is a cutting-edge trainer whose research has been published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. He was able to get pitcher Zack Greinke back in nearly half the time expected from his broken collarbone in 2013 and sped the return of shortstop Hanley Ramirez from a broken thumb that same season. He was believed the first trainer to use platelet-rich plasma injections as a recovery aid on a pitcher when Takashi Saito received them for his elbow in 2008.

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Conte, 60, is not expected to completely retire and it’s unknown if the Dodgers’ new front office wanted him to remain with the organization.

“I want to thank the Dodger organization and specifically each and every one of the dedicated medical staff for their support these last nine seasons in Los Angeles,” Conte said in a statement. “My resignation will allow me to focus on my research in baseball injury analytics as I remain committed to determining the causes and effects of various baseball injuries.”

Conte received his bachelors of science degree from Cal State Northridge and his doctorate in physical therapy from Boston College. Prior to joining the Dodgers in 2006 he spent 15 years as the head trainer for the San Francisco Giants.

Conte was brought to the Dodgers by former general manager Ned Colletti in 2006. He was promoted to director of medical services in 2011 when Sue Falsone was named the first female head trainer in professional sports. By 2013 Conte, by then a vice president, was asked to add his former daily trainer duties and Falsone left the organization.

“I want to thank Stan for his contributions to the Dodgers over the past nine years as well as all he has done for the entire community of sports medicine,” the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, said in a release. “He was an integral member of the organization and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

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