Hensley Meulens a step closer to managing job
The San Francisco Giants have shaken up their coaching staff. Several coaches were “promoted” to the front office. Batting coach Hensley Meulens was also pulled from his job. Today it was announced the former batting coach will have a new job with the team from San Francisco.
As the season ended, several clubs fired their managers. And with that, the rumor mill started. Hensley Meulens was named as one of the candidates to become the manager of the Detroit Tigers. Eventually, the Tigers opted for Ron Gardenhire.
The 50-year old former Major Leaguer has been promoted to bench coach. It happens often that bench coaches become managers later. In case of Meulens, he would be the first from Curaçao who reached the Bigs as a player and who will be an MLB manager.
Bruce Bochy will be in charge through the 2019 season. According to MLB columnist Bob Nightengale Meulens will be groomed to become the next manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Certainly, Bam Bam Meulens now is being groomed to become the next #SFGiants manager when Bruce Bochy steps down in a couple of years.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 25, 2017
Of course, Meulens has some experience as a manager as he managed team Kingdom of the Netherlands during three occasions: twice during the World Baseball Classic (2013 and 2017) and once during the Premier 12 tournament, organized by the WBSC.
With the two editions of the World Baseball Classic, Meulens guided the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the semi-finals, where the team stranded. With the Premier 12 in 2015, the team stranded in the quarterfinals as it was beaten by the team that eventually won the silver medal: the USA.