FALMOUTH, Mass — Jarrod Saltalamacchia is remembered fondly in Massachusetts. He’s known by many as one of the unsung heroes of the Boston Red Sox’s 2013 World Series run, part of his 12-year MLB catching career.

David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia were widely considered the best hitters on the team. But Saltalamacchia understood situational hitting and often delivered in the clutch, former Red Sox bullpen catcher Brian Abraham said.

That was proven in Game 2 of the 2013 American League Championship Series. Many people only remember Ortiz’s game-tying grand slam in the eighth inning, Abraham said. But it was Saltalamacchia’s walk-off single that clinched the win.

In the last four years, he’s forged an even deeper connection with the Boston area. However, it’s been in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), the premier summer showcase for college players. Along with coaching high schoolers at The King's Academy (TKA) in his hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida, Saltalamacchia served as an assistant coach with the Bourne Braves from 2022-24, guiding them to back-to-back CCBL titles.

His next endeavor is as the Falmouth Commodores’ new field manager. Saltalamacchia, 40, was hired to replace 26-year skipper Jeff Trundy, who passed away in December. Because of his previous MLB and coaching experience, Saltalamacchia is up for the challenge.

“I've always been a preparation guy, and failure to prepare is preparing to fail. So I never want to take any job unless I feel like I can be successful,” Saltalamacchia said. “After (the) first year (in Bourne), I was like, ‘Alright, I think I can do that out here.’”

Timing is everything. Saltalamacchia was approached by the Commodores in September to be their manager. The key for the ‘Dores was if he had the connections to acquire top talent each season. They realized he did, and Saltalamacchia accepted their ensuing offer.

However, he wouldn’t have reached Falmouth without starting at TKA in 2018, soon after retiring from MLB. That decision came because Saltalamacchia’s wife, Ashley, was often managing their four girls alone. He knew she was struggling, even though she wouldn’t tell him. So, he made a “family decision” to retire and help her out.

But Saltalamacchia didn’t know life without baseball. He found he couldn’t give it up.

That’s when former MLB outfielder Brad Wilkerson, then TKA’s head coach, reached out about becoming his assistant. The next year, Saltalamacchia slid into its head coaching role after Wilkerson joined the college ranks.

“I knew I wanted to do something more,” Saltalamacchia said. “I didn't want to do pro ball unless the right situation came up, so (joining TKA) was kind of the perfect opportunity.”

Despite his MLB pedigree, Saltalamacchia was never cocky. Former Bourne catcher Hugh Pinkney joked that, other than his 6-foot-3 stature, you wouldn’t expect him to be an MLB veteran with his easygoing attitude. TKA assistant coach Joel Molina added that helped players feel comfortable around him.

Saltalamacchia entered a “rebuilding program” at TKA, Molina said. But by teaching the Lions’ players his philosophies, he and the program have grown.

That success has been aided by implementing journals, per Molina. After at-bats or practices, Saltalamacchia has players jot down what went well and what needed to be improved. The notes varied from reminders to work the count to being more vocal on the bench.

“We were able to dive into more individualism and take those notes as a thermostat,” Molina said. “Then overall, I put those notes together, and that's going to give me the temperature of the team.”

Saltalamacchia was always willing to go the extra mile to help players improve if they reciprocated his effort, Molina and former Bourne player Garrett Michel said. With TKA, he did that by showing YouTube clips of his MLB at-bats — for instance, to demonstrate a two-strike approach.

With catchers, Saltalamacchia was even more valuable. Abraham said his catching pedigree translates well to coaching because of the position’s leadership responsibilities on the field. Molina described the catcher as baseball’s “quarterback,” adding Saltalamacchia has “20,000 different ways” to help TKA’s catchers fix a problem.

He brought those tactics with him to Bourne. After expressing interest in coaching on the Cape, he was referred to then-first-year Bourne manager Scott Landers. Landers jumped at the opportunity. After a quick chat, he felt they clicked immediately and hired Saltalamacchia as his assistant.

“When you try to put a staff together, whether you're in Cape Cod or at school, you really have to mesh well and be around good people because (otherwise) it makes for a miserable summer. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect,” Landers said on hiring Saltalamacchia.

Landers dubbed Saltalamacchia his “right-hand man.” He let him not only work with catchers, but also infielders and pitchers. Saltalamacchia said he treated the summer like MLB spring training — letting players come early to work with him.

During games, he perched himself next to Landers on the bench to call pitches. Catchers like Tulane’s Pinkney and Coastal Carolina’s Caden Bodine, when they weren’t playing, would also sit next to Saltalamacchia to see what he called in different situations.

The experience helped Pinkney tremendously. Saltalamacchia taught him what hitters are looking for in certain counts and what a batter’s stance could tell him. Though Pinkney said he doesn’t call pitches at Tulane, simply being around Saltalamacchia improved his game.

With Bourne’s hitters, Saltalamacchia often went in assuming they knew nothing. Many would be very willing to hear his ideas out. For example, one Kentucky player told Saltalamacchia his coaches advised him to sit on breaking balls and adjust to fastballs. Saltalamacchia reversed that strategy, and it worked.

“Baseball players make the best blue-collar workers, because we just do what we're told,” Saltalamacchia said. “We work hard. There's no quit. So getting them to understand that, we did see a lot of guys in Bourne flourish after that.”

Michel is one example. In his first season on the Cape, he entered off a strong freshman campaign at Virginia Tech, where he batted .339. But that didn’t deter Saltalamacchia from tweaking his stance.

Instead of standing tall with his hands at his chest, Saltalamacchia taught Michel to start lower and feel his back hip through his swing. Michel tried it, resulting in what he called “the best hitting stretch he’s ever had.”

“If he were to tell me to put my hand behind my back, I’d do it because he thought it would work,” Michel said.

Saltalamacchia also helped make in-game adjustments, Pinkney and Michel said. One time, Michel was set to face a new pitcher. When he asked Saltalamacchia about his approach, the coach asked Michel if he trusted him. Because of their previous work, he did.

Since the pitcher tended to be wild, Saltalamacchia told Michel to take pitches until he walked. Despite being skeptical, Michel obliged. Several pitches later, he strolled to first base, perplexed.

“There’ll be times when you look at him like he’s delusional, then I go up there, don’t swing the bat once and I walk,” Michel said. “And I’m like, ‘What the heck? Is this guy a wizard? What’s going on?’”

That wizardry paid off with Bourne. Through mentoring Pinkney and Bodine and helping hitters like Michel find their form, the Braves captured back-to-back championships from 2022-23. Pinkney said Saltalamacchia helped Bourne play consistently down the stretch through timely adjustments, the last juice it needed to come out on top.

Now, Saltalamacchia wants to do the same with Falmouth.

After he was hired, he began recruiting instantly. Saltalamacchia went about it with an “old-school” mentality, watching each player’s film and not relying solely on stats. Though he admitted he added too many players initially, he said he likes the current roster and their performance in Thursday’s preseason scrimmage.

Saltalamacchia knows navigating the Cape’s twists and turns will be tough. Players come and go constantly. But his former players and colleagues know he’s ready.

“He's witnessed all the challenges that I've had and all the experiences, good and bad, so he knows what he's in for,” Landers said. “I don't think anything will surprise him.”