Successful Clubs Need Coaching Staffs With Former Major League Players

The fact that Ned Yost and Bruce Bochy have led their teams to the most recent World Series championships is proof that a team does not have to hire a skipper who was a star in the big leagues. Yost took the Kansas City Royals to the title in spite of having a career .212 batting average, and Bochy has won three titles with the San Francisco Giants without ever having appeared in more than a third of his team’s games during his playing career.

Part of their success, however, could be linked to the Major League veterans on their coaching staffs. Sometimes the value of these coaches is overlooked when it comes time to evaluate a club’s performance.

More than half of Kansas City’s coaching staff last year was made up of guys who had played in the Big Leagues, such as Dave Eiland, Rusty Kuntz and Dale Sveum. The 2014 champion Giants also packed its coaching staff with former MLB players, including Dave Righetti, Hensley Muelens, Joe Lefevre, Roberto Kelly, and Mark Gardner.

This season reveals the same correlation between the top teams and former big leaguers on the coaching staff. Of the six clubs in first place at the All-Star break, five of them are staffed mostly with coaches who played Major League Baseball. The lone exception is Baltimore, where manager Buck Schowalter’s long career as a skipper probably makes up for the lack of veterans on his staff.

The club with the best overall record, the Giants, again have five coaches with big league experience, as do the Cubs and Rangers. The Indians have just three, but manager Terry Francona himself had a lengthy career in the Majors. The Washington Nationals not only have former All-Star Dusty Baker as skipper, but all six of his coaches spent time at baseball’s highest level.

The current second place teams are also stocked with former MLB players on their coaching staffs. The Los Angeles Dodgers have filled all seven of its coaching spots, as well as its managerial position, with guys who once reached the top tier of the sport.

The second place Cardinals have five coaches and a manager who played in the Majors, and the Miami Marlins have five as well. New manager Don Mattingly is a former All-Star, and new hitting instructor Barry Bonds is a seven time Most Valuable Player.

A look at the teams at the bottom also reflects the importance of staffing former big leaguers to assist the manager. The team with the worst record in the National League, the Cincinnati Reds, began the season with just one former MLB player (Billy Hatcher) on its staff. They since have hired former Reds hurler Ted Power to serve as pitching coach under manager Bryan Price.

Also having just two MLB veterans on its coaching staff is Tampa Bay who, not coincidentally, are in the cellar of the American League East. The only team with a worse record than the Rays, the Minnesota Twins, have three coaches who once played at the big league level.

Neither of last season’s recipients of Manager of the Year (Joe Madden and Jeff Banister) ever took more than one at bat at the Major League level, but they had the benefit of coaches who played at baseball’s highest level. That experience is something that every organization should consider when making personnel decisions.

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