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This week, the Oakland Athletics brought in ex-Texas Rangers manager and infield coaching specialist Ron Washington to help the defense and work one-on-one with rookie Marcus Semien, who has committed 16 errors so far this season. Even though the Athletics are denying that Washington will replace current third base and infield coach Mike Gallego, there has been some speculation that Washington will ultimately become the A’s infield/third base coach either later this season or next year. If Washington can prove he can improve Oakland’s defense overall, the A’s should let Gallego go and keep Washington for seasons to come for a handful of reasons.
First of all, Washington is very familiar with the Athletics organization. He was the A’s first base coach in 1996, as well as the the third base and infield coach from 1997-2006. Washington was able to help the defense greatly during his time with Oakland before he moved on to become the manager of the Rangers.
Washington also has a great track record. He has worked with many notable infielders and has been credited with these players’ defensive successes, including third baseman and six time Gold Glove winner Eric Chavez, shortstop Miguel Tejada and first baseman Scott Hatteberg, who had never played first base before being trained by Washington as to how to field in that position. Additionally, while with Texas, he led the team to the World Series twice in eight seasons and won 664 game with the team, the most by any manager in the Rangers’ franchise history.
Lastly, the reason the Athletics should try to keep Washington around is because he works well with younger players. The A’s farm system is packed with young infielders who are going to be coming up from the minors within the next few years. Additionally, six of their top 10 prospects right now are infielders. It would be helpful to have a coach on the team that works well with younger, less experienced players.
It will be interesting to see how Gallego’s and Washington’s roles in the Athletics organization evolve over this season. It would be nice to keep Washington on the coaching staff, but he does have managerial experience and could be offered a manager position for another team. For now, let’s hope that Athletics defense benefits from Washington’s special training.
Samantha Riley is an Oakland Athletics writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow her on twitter @Riless22.
