After three-time Manager of the Year Bob Melvin left Oakland for San Diego in October, the A’s appear to have finally found his replacement.
Oakland is reportedly set to hire third base coach Mark Kotsay as its newest manager, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Kotsay took over third base coaching duties last season and has been an assistant with the team since 2015.
Kotsay, 46, played 17 big-league seasons, including four with the A’s from 2004 to 2007. He’s interviewed for multiple managerial positions in the past, including with the Astros and Tigers.
Kotsay’s extensive playing experience has been viewed as an asset within the organization, with players lauding his read on the game and ways of communicating with different people.
“He has a really good pulse on every type of player in the clubhouse. He knows how to handle each player individually. It’s not cookie cutter,” Pinder said last December, per Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News. “That’s a big strength of [manager] Bob Melvin’s, too, I see a lot of that it Kots.”
In 11 seasons with Melvin at the helm, the A’s made the playoffs six times, with three American League West titles. Oakland went 86–76 last season and came in third place in the division. The A’s finished with a winning record in four straight years, but could be headed for a rebuild after missing out on the playoffs last year and with much of their core close to free agency.
