Yankees hire three-time Gold Glover as bench coach

The Yankees hired Brad Ausmus to be their bench coach, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The position was left vacant when Carlos Mendoza was hired away to be the manager of the Mets.

Ausmus, 55 in April, played in the big leagues from 1993 to 2010. After his playing days were over, he quickly jumped into coaching and was a manager not long after, getting the skipper job with the Tigers in 2014. He held that job for four seasons, running through the 2017 campaign. The club made the postseason in his first year at the helm but missed in the next three and he wasn’t brought back after his contract expired.

He then joined the Angels as a special assistant to general manager Billy Eppler but moved back into the skipper’s chair going into 2019. He signed a three-year deal but was fired after just one season in which the Halos went 72-90. He returned to a big league dugout in 2022, working as bench coach for the A’s, providing first-time manager Mark Kotsay with an experienced lieutenant. He didn’t return to that job for 2023, reportedly seeking a front office position. He was considered by the Astros for their general manager vacancy, but Dana Brown ultimately got that job and Ausmus is now set to jump back into a bench coach role for 2024.

This will be the first time the Yanks have a new bench coach in a while, as Mendoza had held steady in that gig for the past four seasons before moving to Queens. The Yanks also made a change at hitting coach, with Sean Casey opting not to return and getting replaced by James Rowson.