Angels finalize coaching staff for next season
The overhaul of the Angels’ major league coaching staff for 2019 was finalized Monday, ending a monthlong process that followed the hiring of new manager Brad Ausmus in late October.
Second-year bench coach Josh Paul, hitting coach Jeremy Reed, pitching coach Doug White, infield and third base coach Mike Gallego, assistant hitting coach Shawn Wooten, hitting instructor Paul Sorrento, first-year catching coach Jose Molina and bullpen coach Andrew Bailey will join Ausmus in Anaheim.
Not returning to reprise his role as first base coach is Alfredo Griffin, who was the only member of the major league staff to remain alongside Mike Scioscia throughout his 19-year tenure. Instead, former Dodgers draftee Jesus Feliciano will take over Griffin’s duties and also coach outfielders.
Paul, Sorrento and Bailey are the only coaches who were retained from last year’s major league staff. Molina, the former Angels catcher, was a minor league catching coordinator the last three seasons. Gallego, who also received a promotion, was the Angels’ director of baseball development during that span.
General manager Billy Eppler kept this hiring process mostly under wraps. However, the promotions of Reed and Wooten, who spent last year as minor league hitting coordinators, and the addition of White, the former Astros bullpen coach, were made known last month.
Feliciano, 39, is one of two outside hires made for Ausmus’ staff. He had been a minor league coach in the Chicago Cubs organization the last five years. Feliciano was a draft-and-follow pick of the Dodgers out of his Puerto Rico high school in 1997. He played professionally as an outfielder for 15 seasons, but did not crack a major league roster until he played 54 games for the New York Mets in 2010 at the age of 31.
Former All-Star closer and 2009 rookie of the year Bailey joined the Angels staff as a coaching assistant and video replay coordinator last spring training, right after announcing his retirement as a player in February. At the same time, Sorrento was entering his third year as the Angels’ assistant hitting coach.
Former third base coach Dino Ebel, who spent 14 years as a member of Scioscia’s staff, was named to the same role with the Dodgers last week.
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