A’s expected to hire former Tigers, Angels manager as bench coach: report

New A’s manager Mark Kotsay’s coaching staff appears nearly complete, with former Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus reportedly the team’s choice as bench coach.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted Friday that the A’s search was over.

Kotsay was named the A’s manager Dec. 20, replacing Bob Melvin. Melvin was hired as the San Diego Padres’ manager, and took bench coach Ryan Christensen with him.

The A’s have not announced who will take over Kotsay’s old duties as third base coach.

If there are no coaching changes, the holdovers from last season would be: Scott Emerson (pitching coach), Darren Bush (hitting coach), Eric Martins (assistant hitting coach), Mike Aldrete (first base coach) and Marcus Jensen (bullpen coach).

Kotsay, 46, is a first-time manager, and the addition of Ausmus adds some more experience to the A’s coaching staff. Ausmus, 52, has managed five seasons in the majors with the Tigers (2014-17) and the Angels (2019), guiding Detroit to the AL Central title in 2014.

Surprisingly, this will be the first coaching job Ausmus has held at any level.

After parts of 18 seasons as a big-league catcher, he was hired as a field executive by the Padres in 2011. (Kotsay played the final two seasons of his 17-year MLB career with the Padres during Ausmus’ final two seasons in the field executive role.) Ausmus went from that position directly to being a field manager when the Tigers hired him in 2014 as Jim Leyland’s replacement. He served as a special assistant to Angels general manager Billy Eppler for the 2018 season before being named the manager.

This will be Ausmus’ first on-field job since he was fired by the Angels after they went 72-90 in his lone season with the club. Ausmus reportedly this offseason interviewed with the Mets for their managerial job, which went to Buck Showalter.