![]() Showalter seems aware of the challenges facing him. But he also has several weeks to knock out these tasks without any player-related responsibilities taking over. Because most of the Mets’ peers have already filled out their staffs, he has the disadvantage of fewer available coaches. ![]() It will be interesting to see what sort of staff Showalter unveils. The Twins just hired a new first-base coach, Hank Conger, 33, from the KBO's Lotte Giants and a 31-year-old hitting coach, David Popkins, who was playing independent ball as recently as 2017. In addition to bringing on Brdar, who worked for the Giants, the Padres just hired a new first-base coach, David Macias, 35, from East Carolina University. Unsurprisingly, teams are now copying the Giants’ model and looking to new places for coaches. Players described an environment in which coaches were creative and attentive to their concerns. ![]() In his second managerial post, in 2020 with San Francisco, Kapler started making the kind of hires that he had in the lower levels of the Dodgers’ organization, including the first female major-league coach, 29-year-old Alyssa Nakken, 31-year-old Kai Correa as bench coach and 29-year-old Justin Viele as hitting coach.Īll of that attracted more attention, especially when the Giants exceeded expectations that first season and even more so when they demolished expectations in 2021. That worked wonders for the Dodgers and boosted Kapler’s reputation enough that he was a manager by 2018. Specifically, he looked to the college and private-coaching ranks. When the Dodgers hired him to run their player development seven years ago, he extended the search for coaching candidates further than his peers. Within the industry, Giants manager Gabe Kapler is credited with starting this trend. When the Dodgers hired 32-year-old Robert Van Scoyoc to the same position three years ago, it was considered revelatory. Consider Michael Brdar, at 27 the new Padres hitting coach.
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