Athletics expected to hire former Angels manager Brad Ausmus as bench coach

The Athletics’ search for a new bench coach appears to be over, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter) reports that Brad Ausmus is expected to land the job. It will be Ausmus’ first on-field job since he was fired as manager of the Angels following the 2019 season.

The 52-year-old Ausmus has been linked to several other managerial positions since leaving Anaheim, interviewing with the Padres, Astros and (most recently) the Mets about their openings in the dugout. This also marks the first actual coaching job of Ausmus’ career, as he worked as a special assistant with the Padres in between the end of his playing career and his hiring as the Tigers’ manager in November 2013. Ausmus then worked another special assistant job for a season in the Angels’ front office before taking over their managerial position.

Now paired alongside newly-hired Oakland skipper Mark Kotsay, Ausmus will provide a veteran voice as Kotsay embarks on his first gig as a big-league manager. Ausmus has 808 games (386-422) and five seasons under his belt managing Detroit and Los Angeles, highlighted by an AL Central crown with the Tigers in 2014.

When the A’s let Bob Melvin take the Padres’ manager job, it also led to the departure of former bench coach Ryan Christenson, who followed Melvin to San Diego. Kotsay and now Ausmus will fill those two vacancies, though it remains to be seen if Oakland might yet make any other changes to the coaching staff heading into 2022.