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Padres Promote Ryan Christenson To Associate Manager

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The Padres announced their coaching staff for the 2023 season this afternoon. There are a few shakeups for Bob Melvin’s second season leading the San Diego dugout.

Ryan Christenson has been given the title of associate manager. The 48-year-old joined Melvin in making the jump from the A’s to the Padres last offseason. Christenson had been Melvin’s bench coach in Oakland from 2018-21 and took on that same role for his first season in San Diego. He now earns a bump in title to associate manager, though his position as Melvin’s top lieutenant seems unchanged.

Filling the role of bench coach is Ryan Flaherty, who’s going into year four on the San Diego staff. He also gets the title of offensive coordinator, essentially taking on the hitting coach duties vacated when Michael Brdar was poached by the Tigers at the start of the offseason. San Diego will go without anyone assuming the traditional “hitting coach” title.

The 36-year-old Flaherty has spent the past two seasons as a quality control coach. He drew interest from the Mets in their bench coach search last offseason, but the Friars denied New York’s interview request. One year later, the former Orioles infielder gets both that title and the lead hitting responsibilities in San Diego.

He’ll be joined on staff by assistant hitting coaches Scott Coolbaugh and Oscar Bernard. The 56-year-old Coolbaugh joins the Friars after two years as the lead hitting instructor with the Tigers. He’d also previously served as hitting coach in Baltimore and Texas and an assistant role with the White Sox. He brings plenty of coaching experience to help Flaherty in his first crack as offensive coordinator.

Bernard, meanwhile, gets promoted to the MLB staff after seven years as San Diego’s minor league hitting coordinator. The 39-year-old spent some time as a player and instructor in the Cubs’ minor league system before joining the Friars in 2016. It’s the first big league staff job for the Dominican Republic native. Also joining the group is catching coach Brian Esposito. The 43-year-old spent last season managing the Friars’ Low-A affiliate in Fort Wayne.

The rest are holdovers from last season. Ruben Niebla is back for a second year as pitching coach, pairing with bullpen coach Ben Fritz. Matt Williams and David Macias will coach the bases and defense — Williams the infield, Macias the outfield — with Peter Summerville and Herberto Andrade as coaching assistants. Former big league managers Bryan Price and Mike Shildt will reassume the advisory roles they manned in 2022.

Padres Finalize Coaching Staff, Hire Bryan Price As Senior Advisor

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The Padres on Monday announced manager Bob Melvin’s staff for the 2022 season, revealing within that former Reds skipper Bryan Price has joined the organization as a senior advisor to the Major League coaching staff. Price, according to today’s press release, “will work alongside the Major League coaching staff throughout Spring Training and the 2022 season, serving as a both an on-field instructor and a mentor within the clubhouse.”

Price’s hire was not previously reported and comes as something of a surprise, given that he’d announced his retirement following the 2020 season. Price spent that year as the Phillies’ pitching coach and also managed the Reds from 2014-18, though the 59-year-old comes with decades of experience beyond those most recent roles.

An eighth-round pick out of UC Berkeley by the Angels back in 1984, Price pitched in parts of five minor league seasons before setting out on a coaching track that would make him one of the more successful and well-regarded coaches in recent memory. He spent 11 years as a minor league pitching coach and/or pitching coordinator in the Mariners’ system from 1988-99 before joining their Major League staff as pitching coach. Price held that role through the 2005 season, working as pitching coach under Melvin there for two of those seasons (2003-04).

Price was named the D-backs’ pitching coach prior to the 2006 season — again serving under Melvin — and remained there through the 2009 season. At that point, he was hired by the Reds as pitching coach, holding that post until being promoted to manager in the 2013-14 offseason.

Aside from Price, there are no new surprises included within San Diego’s announcement, as the entirety of the staff’s composition had already been reported. Ryan Christenson will follow Melvin from Oakland to San Diego, reprising his role as bench coach. Ruben Niebla heads over from Cleveland after serving as an assistant pitching coach there last year. Matt Williams will also reunite with Melvin as third base coach after spending the past two seasons managing in the KBO. (He’d previously been Melvin’s third base coach in Oakland, in addition to a two-year stint managing the Nationals.) David Macias, who formerly managed in the Mariners’ system and was on the East Carolina University staff, is the team’s first base/outfield coach. Recently retired catcher Francisco Cervelli is the team’s new catching coach.

The Padres are also welcoming back a few coaches from former skipper Jayce Tingler’s staff. Quality control coach Ryan Flaherty (best known for his six-year stint as an Orioles utilityman), bullpen coach Ben Fritz and game-planning/coaching assistant Peter Summerville are all on the staff again under the newly hired Melvin.

Padres Expected To Add Matt Williams, David Macias To Coaching Staff

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The Padres are “on the verge” of adding Matt Williams as their new third base coach, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Britt Ghiroli and Dennis Lin of The Athletic report that Williams is indeed set to join the staff (Twitter link), adding that the Friars are also set to name assistant East Carolina University coach David Macias their new first base coach. The Padres are also hiring former Mariners bench coach Jared Sandberg as their new Triple-A skipper, per Ghiroli and Lin.

Williams, 56, managed the Nationals from 2014-15 and was even named National League Manager of the Year in 2014. He’s quite familiar with incoming Padres skipper Bob Melvin, having served as Melvin’s third base coach in Oakland from 2018-19. Williams also spent five years on the D-backs’ Major League staff, from 2010-13 and again in 2016, where he served as both third base coach and first base coach. He’s spent the past two seasons in South Korea, managing the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization. Lin reported earlier this week that the Padres had spoken to Williams about joining the team as Melvin’s new third base coach.

Of course, Williams is also known for an excellent playing career that spanned 17 Major League seasons. A five-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove third baseman, four-time Silver Slugger and 2001 World Series champion with the D-backs, Williams blasted 378 home runs while batting .268/.317/.489 in 7595 plate appearances from 1987-2003. He took home MVP votes on four occasions, finishing second place in 1994, third place in 1999 and sixth place in both 1990 and 1993.

Although the 35-year-old Macias is joining the Padres’ staff from the college ranks, he’s no stranger to working with Major League clubs. The former Vanderbilt player was a 19th-round pick of the Cubs back in 2008 and played four minor league seasons with them. He spent 2016-17 working with the Mariners, first as their international player programs coordinator and staff systems coordinator, then stepping up as the manager of Seattle’s Class-A affiliate in Clinton.

Macias departed the Mariners organization to work with the coaching staff at his alma mater, Vanderbilt, and had only just joined the ECU coaching staff this past summer. He worked specifically with catchers and outfielders at ECU, though it’s not clear whether he’ll do the same with the Padres.

The Padres have not yet formally announced their 2022 staff, though Lin tweets that they plan to do so next week.

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