Angels News: Team close to rounding out coaching staff, includes 2 former LAA players

Kurt Suzuki is rounding out his coaching staff, and Angels fans will see several familiar faces in the dugout next season (as was expected). When it was announced that Suzuki was signed for just one guaranteed year (plus some club options), nobody expected the Halos to find many standout candidates to take on roles on the support staff. Even with the uncertainty swirling around Suzuki's managerial tenure, the team was able to land the great Mike Maddux as pitching coach anyway.

Well, in the last few days the Angels came quite close to finishing building their coaching staff.

Angels News: Team close to rounding out coaching staff, includes 2 former LAA players

The Angels have made the following additions: John Gibbons as bench coach, former Angels outfielder as Adam Eaton as first base coach and outfield instructor, former Angels catcher Max Stassi as catching coach, Triple-A Salt Lake Bees manager Keith Johnson as third base coach Double-A Rocket City manager Andy Schatzley as infield coach. The team still needs to find its hitting coach.

Let's start with Gibbons, who might be the most unfamiliar name for Angels fans. Gibbons had no previous ties to the organization unlike every other coach, save for Maddux, that was recently hired. However, the man who is replacing both Ray Montgomery and Ryan Goins has ties to Perry Minasian from his time with the Toronto Blue Jays. He served two terms as the Blue Jays' skipper from 2004-2008 and 2013-2018, so he certainly does not lack for experience.

Stassi and Eaton both played for the Angels back in the day. Stassi was once a crucial part of the Angels' roster, but his career went sideways when he stepped away from MLB for a year due to a pressing personal matter regarding his son that was born three months prematurely. Stassi and Suzuki were both catchers for the Angels from 2021-2022. Speaking of Suzuki's teammates, Zuk and Adam Eaton teamed up in 2021 for the Halos. Both Eaton and Stassi are in their mid-30s, and will help Suzuki infuse a great deal of youthful exuberance into a younger roster.

Johnson and Schatzley were both critical members of the Angels' minor league player development. The two were routinely part of both MLB and MiLB spring training, and were leaned on for their expertise in the workings of the organization's pipeline. As managers, they were both a fantastic mix of old-school and analytical, plus they have previous working relationships with pretty much every member of the Angels' young core of players.