Angels Hire Johnny Washington, Jerry Narron To Coaching Staff
The Angels have announced two new members of their coaching staff, as Johnny Washington has been hired as the Halos’ hitting coach and Jerry Narron will be the new Major League catching coach.
The 39-year-old Washington has been the Cubs’ assistant hitting coach for the last two seasons, coming off a one-year stint in South Korea for the KBO League’s Hanwha Eagles. Before that trip abroad, Washington was a longtime coach in the minor leagues with the Dodgers and Padres, and San Diego promoted him to the big league staff in 2017 to act as the first base coach and eventually the hitting coach.
There’s no relation between the new hitting coach and new Angels manager Ron Washington, and the two just missed crossing paths during Johnny’s playing career, as his time as a prospect in the Rangers’ farm system ended just before Ron became the Texas manager prior to the 2007 season. However, the Angels have had Johnny Washington on their radar in the past, as they interviewed him for their managerial vacancy in the 2019-20 offseason before eventually hiring Joe Maddon.
Under ex-hitting coach Marcus Thames (who is now taking over the hitting coach job with the White Sox), the Angels had mostly decent to middle-of-the-pack batting numbers across the board in 2023. Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout naturally contributed to lot of the offense, and L.A. got good results from Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward, and Brandon Drury, though injuries plagued the Halos on the whole. 2024 could be a transformative year in Anaheim if Ohtani departs in free agency, so Washington’s to-do list includes continued development for younger bats like Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe, and seeing if Anthony Rendon can get his bat back on track if the third baseman can finally avoid the injury bug.
Narron celebrates his 68th birthday in January, and he brings almost 50 years of experience as a player, coach, manager, and several other roles at the Major League and minor league levels. Narron is best known for his two stints as a big league manager, helming the Rangers in 2001-02 and the Reds from 2005-07. He played for the then-California Angels from 1983-86, and he was back in the organization last year as a minor league catching coordinator.
White Sox To Part Ways With Hitting Coach Frank Menechino
The White Sox landed on their new manager yesterday, agreeing to a contract with Pedro Grifol. The team hasn’t officially announced the hiring of the now-former Royals bench coach, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets they’ll do so tomorrow.
With Grifol replacing Tony La Russa, the Sox are expected to overhaul their coaching staff. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported yesterday that a number of coaches weren’t being asked back, and reports last night indicated that Charlie Montoyo was joining the staff as bench coach. The status of La Russa’s bench coach, Miguel Cairo, remains unclear, but a few other members of the staff are known to be departing the organization.
Hitting coach Frank Menechino and catching instructor Jerry Narron will not return in 2023, reports James Fegan of the Athletic. That’s also true of third base coach Joe McEwing, as first reported by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Previous reports have suggested that pitching coach Ethan Katz and assistant pitching coach Curt Hasler would be retained. The futures for Cairo, assistant hitting coach Howie Clark and first base coach Daryl Boston haven’t been publicly revealed, but Fegan suggests the departures could go beyond Menchino, McEwing and Narron.
Of the known departures, none figures to be more significant than that of Menechino. The 51-year-old has been the hitting coach on the South Side for the past three seasons. He’d also spent two years as the hitting coach of the Marlins and coached in the Yankees and Chicago farm systems. He’d held the hitting coach position under both Rick Renteria and La Russa.
The White Sox were a generally successful offensive team during Menechino’s tenure. Dating back to the start of the 2020 campaign, they rank ninth in run-scoring and park-adjusted hitting (105 wRC+). The 2022 results were more middle-of-the-pack, though, with Chicago finishing 19th in runs. They ranked 18th with a .310 on-base percentage and a .387 slugging mark, and only the Tigers drew fewer walks.
As with any coach, Menechino certainly doesn’t deserve all the credit for the club’s above-average 2020-21 success nor all the blame for their disappointing 2022 numbers. Still, it’s not uncommon for an incoming manager to make some adjustments to the coaching staff, and it seems likely the Sox will hope a new voice can coax a bit more patient offensive approach. Chicago’s roster is built around a number of aggressive hitters, but the team finished with the second-highest rate of chases on pitches outside the strike zone while checking in closer to average at swinging at pitches within the zone.
Turning to the other staff changes, McEwing and Narrow are both longtime big league coaches. McEwing has coached in the Sox organization since 2008 and has been on the MLB staff since 2012. He spent a few years as bench coach between stints coaching third base. Narron has previously been a bench coach in Arizona and Boston. He’d been on Chicago’s staff for the past two seasons.
Changes Made To Red Sox Coaching Staff
The Boston Red Sox announced a couple of changes to their coaching staff. Bench coach Jerry Narron and bullpen coach Craig Bjornson will not be returning in 2021, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford and others (via Twitter).
The Red Sox will bring in a new manager at some point this winter after announcing the dismissal of Ron Roenicke in September. Roenicke was promoted from bench coach when Alex Cora was fired following MLB’s investigation into the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. There have been rumblings that Cora could come back to resume his role as Red Sox manager, with MLB Insider Jon Heyman going so far as to say he is the favorite for the role.
In the meantime, many other members of the coaching staff appear to be returning in 2021 regardless of who takes the top job. Hitting coach Tim Hyers, assistant hitting coach Peter Fatse, pitching coach Dave Bush, assistant pitching coach Kevin Walker, third-base coach Carlos Febles, first-base coach Tom Goodwin, and coach Ramon Vazquez are all said to be returning, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). It’s still certainly possible that more changes could come whenever the manager role is filled.
Red Sox Hire Jerry Narron As Bench Coach
The Red Sox have hired Jerry Narron to serve as Ron Roenicke’s bench coach, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Narron had spent the last three seasons in the same role with the Diamondbacks.
Although it’s a change of scenery for Narron, he should inherit a fairly familiar situation. It won’t be the first time he’ll have held the title of Red Sox bench coach; in 2003, he was second-in-command to manager Grady Little for Boston’s run to the ALCS. He’s also coached in tandem with new Sox manager Ron Roenicke, working as Milwaukee’s bench coach concurrent with Roenicke’s five-year stint as the Brewer skipper.
Narron brings to the table his own experience as a Major League manager, having presided over the Rangers and Reds in the early 2000s for 633 total games. His teams compiled a 291-341 record in his career and never appeared in postseason play.
Between his days as a coach and Major League catcher, the 64-year-old Narron has been around the MLB game for 32 seasons—not to mention plenty more coaching and playing in the minor leagues.
Latest On Mets’ Coaching Staff
The Mets are making progress in their efforts to put together a staff under new skipper Carlos Beltran. In particular, the club has agreements in place with Chili Davis and Tom Slater to remain with the organization, per Andy Martino of SNY.tv (via Twitter).
Both Davis and Slater receive multi-year deals, per the report. They’ll continue to serve as hitting coach and assistant hitting coach, respectively, giving the New York org some continuity in that arena as Beltran takes over the dugout.
Beltran is still in need of a bench coach and that now seems to be the top priority. Longtime Giants coach Ron Wotus is under consideration for the gig, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (Twitter link). Wotus’s status in San Francisco is in flux now that Gabe Kapler has signed on there.
Jerry Narron and Fredi Gonzalez remain under consideration by the Mets as well, Jon Heyman of MLB Network notes on Twitter. It isn’t known whether that constitutes a final trio of candidates. Terry Collins has been mentioned previously as a speculative possibility, but he’s reportedly out of the mix.
Latest On Mets’ Bench Coach Position
11:21pm: Giants third base coach Ron Wotus has also interviewed for the Mets’ bench coach position, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets. Wotus remains in the running for the job, per Baggarly. San Francisco has been the lone stop for the 58-year-old Wotus since his MLB coaching career began in 1998, and the Giants did consider him for their managerial vacancy this fall. However, now that the Giants have hired Gabe Kapler as their manager, it’s unclear if Wotus will remain part of their staff.
7:30pm: The Mets have their new manager in former major league slugger Carlos Beltran, a first-time skipper who brings zero coaching experience to the table. The fact that Beltran’s a neophyte makes it all the more important for the Mets to find an experienced bench coach capable of helping him learn the ropes. They’ve got at least two names on their radar in Fredi Gonzalez and Jerry Narron, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.
The Mets have already spoken with Gonzalez, who’s likely to have a formal interview with the club after the GM meetings, according to Puma. The 55-year-old Gonzalez is a former major league manager who oversaw the Marlins from 2007-10 and the Braves from 2011-16. More recently, Gonzalez was the Marlins’ bench coach over the previous three seasons, but he stepped down from that post a month ago.
Narron, 63, left the Diamondbacks in late October after they chose to replace him as their bench coach. He served in that role for two-plus years before the D-backs decided to give the job to Luis Urueta, though their hope was that Narron would remain a part of their coaching staff. He’s now a free agent, however, and is well-known for managing the Rangers from 2001-02 and the Reds from 2005-07.