The Yankees have hired former Mets skipper Luis Rojas to serve as their third base coach for the 2022 season, per a club announcement. He’ll take the place of Phil Nevin, whom the Yankees dismissed following the season.
Rojas, 40, served as the Mets’ manager for the past two seasons. He’d been serving as a quality control coach after more than a decade coaching and managing in the Mets’ minor league system but was unexpectedly elevated to the manager’s chair when the Mets moved on from Carlos Beltran following the revelation of his involvement in orchestrating the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
The Mets were 103-119 under Rojas’ watch, fading down the stretch this past season after spending much of the year in contention for a division crown. Injuries played a large role in that decline, with Jacob deGrom’s absence looming particularly large, but the Mets nevertheless elected to decline a third-year option on Rojas, making him free to join a new organization for the first time in 16 years.
Rojas interviewed for the Padres’ managerial vacancy but was passed over when longtime A’s skipper Bob Melvin was surprisingly made available to them. He reportedly interviewed with the Yankees last week and, clearly, made a strong impression when doing so.
In Rojas, the Yankees will be adding a bilingual coach with managing experience and plenty of experience working with the Mets’ analysts and players alike. Rojas is a former minor league manager of the year who wore a variety of hats throughout his 16-year run in the Mets organization. He’s also a member of a legendary baseball family, as the son of three-time MLB All-Star and 1994 NL Manager of the Year Felipe Alou and the half brother of six-time All-Star Moises Alou.
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