The Padres have finalized their 2017 coaching staff. Andy Green is, of course, back for his second season at the helm.
He’ll bring back pitching coach Darren Balsley, hitting coach Alan Zinter, 3rd base coach Glenn Hoffman, bench coach Mark McGwire and bullpen coach Doug Bochtler.
New to the staff are 1st base coach Johnny Washington, Jonathan Mathews as a coach specializing in teaching the outfielders and former Padre Ramon Vazquez as a coach specializing in teaching the infielders
The two constants for the Padres continue to be Balsley and Hoffman. This will be Balsley’s 15th season with the Padres, making him the 2nd-longest-tenured pitching coach in Major League Baseball (Dave Righetti has been with the Giants since 2000). Hoffman has been with the club for 12 years, all as the 3rd base coach.
McGwire, Bochtler and Zinter all joined the Padres staff with Green for the 2016 season.
Washington is a 32-year-old who was the hitting coach for the Padres’ Double-A affiliate in San Antonio last season. Before joining the Padres organization he spent seven years as a coach in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system. This is his first job at the big league level.
The other two guys have an interesting connection: Indian Hills Community College in Centerville, Iowa.
Mathews comes over from the Diamondbacks, where he was a minor league hitting coach. He got his first coaching job in pro baseball when the Orioles hired him as their Single-A hitting coach in 2013. Before that he was an assistant coach at Indian Hills, where the also was an Economics teacher (Mathews has a master’s degree in athletic administration from the University of Iowa).
Speaking of Indian Hills C.C.; that is the school Vazquez was drafted out of in 1995 by the Mariners. Vazquez would play nine years in the Major Leagues, including three for the Padres (2002-2004). Last season he was the manager for Single-A Lancaster in the Houston Astros system.
Padres pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona on February 14.
