Who is the Angels' acting manager in wake of Ron Washington's indefinite absence?

With Ron Washington out of action indefinitely as he deals with a health concern (and with all of our well wishes for a speedy return), bench coach Ray Montgomery will step up to manage the Angels. In case you need a refresher, here’s who Montgomery is, and what he might bring to the team.

Ray Montgomery has been with the Angels since 2020, originally as Director of Player Personnel before being named bench coach at the end of 2021. He played a handful of Major League games from 1996-98, fittingly for the Houston Astros, the team he will manage against this week. After that he became a scout for nearly two decades, eventually spending several years as Scouting Director for both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers.

His move to bench coach came at the start of what would turn out to be Joe Maddon’s last few months as the Angel’s manager, and Maddon told the Orange County Register how Montgomery’s scouting pedigree had carried over to his new role:

"If there's a player that I don't know, a young guy, he knows where he's from, what round he was drafted in, who his parents are. It's amazing."

Joe Maddon

As helpful as that depth of knowledge may have been, it didn’t stop Maddon being fired on June 7th 2022. His replacement, Phil Nevin, didn’t waste much time in getting himself suspended following a brawl against the Seattle Mariners, giving Montgomery his first chance to step up and manage against the White Sox on June 27th.

Since then, he has been a lone constant in the Angel’s dugout. He survived the significant turnover that arrived alongside Ron Washington, including pitching, hitting and infield coaches, and has been a stable, if low-key, presence under three managers in three years.

As those managers have changed, however, Montgomery’s name has never been far from any discussion around who comes next. Right from the start of 2022, when Maddon’s future seemed far from clear, Jon Heyman of the New York Post felt that Montgomery’s promotion was imminent.

"…folks are convinced that if the Angels make a change, the job would go to Ray Montgomery, the personable New Yorker (White Plains and Fordham) just elevated to his first coaching job as bench coach out of the front office."

Jon Heyman

Similar speculation resurfaced before Nevin was rehired in 2023, and again prior to Washington coming on board for 2024. With Wash’s contract due to expire at the end of this season, and now this undisclosed health issue, the next (hopefully) few games could be seen as an early audition for Montgomery, and give him a chance to move to the head of an already crowded pack of names being floated as the Angels next leader.  

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