(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
   Hensley Meulens named Bench Coach of New York Mets
Nederlands
 QUEENS/NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Hensley Meulens is the new Bench Coach of New York Mets.
First unconfirmed reports about his naming into this new position already circulated on Monday, November 25.
But on Sunday (December 8), New York Mets officially finalized and confirmed the coaching-staff of new Manager Carlos Beltrán for the 2020 season.
And with that, Meulens officially became the team's new Bench Coach.
...Hensley Meulens as Manager...
...of the Netherlands during...
...the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The 52-year old Hensley 'Bam Bam' Meulens worked for San Francisco Giants since 2010.
He was the Hitting Coach of the team for eight seasons (2010-2017), then was the Bench Coach of Manager Bruce Bochy in the past two seasons.
While Meulens was a Coach, San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Carlos Beltrán was named Manager of the Mets on November 1 as the successor of Mickey Callaway.
For the Puerto Rican, it will be his first experience as Manager of a Major League-team.
As centerfielder, Beltrán played in the Major League for 20 seasons (1998-2017) for Kansas City Royals (1998-2004), Houston Astros (2004), New York Mets (2005-2011), San Francisco Giants (2011), St. Louis Cardinals (2012-2013), New York Yankees (2014-2016), Texas Rangers (2016) and Houston Astros (2017).
In total, Beltrán played in 2,586 games, hitting 2,725 basehits, including 435 homeruns.
In 1999, Beltrán won the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
In his career, the outfielder played in nine All Star Games.
He won the World Series with Houston in 2017 at age 40.
After the season, he became a Free Agent and later retired.
On July 28, 2011 Beltrán was traded by New York Mets to San Francisco Giants.
In the remainder of the season, he played in 44 games for the team, where Meulens then was his Hitting Coach.
While playing for the Giants, Beltrán batted .323 (54-for-167) and batted in 18 runs.
As player of Puerto Rico, Beltrán participated in all four World Baseball Classics so far (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017).
The Curaçao-born Hensley Meulens played in the Major League for seven seasons.
In 1989, as first player from Curaçao, he made his debut with New York Yankees for whom he then also played in 1990-1993.
In the next three seasons, Bam Bam played in Japan for Chiba Lotte Marines (1994) and Yakult Swallows (1995-1996).
Meulens returned to the Major League as player of Montreal Expos in 1997, then played in seven games for Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.
Meulens also played in Mexico (2000-2002).
...Carlos Beltrán hitting for...
...Puerto Rico vs. Netherlands...
...in the Semi-Final of the 2017...
...World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Like Beltrán, Meulens also has participated in all four World Baseball Classics.
In 2006 and 2009, Meulens was the Hitting Coach of the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
He was then the Manager of the Orange-squad in 2013 and 2017 and both times, Meulens guided the team to the Semi-Final.
In the Semi-Final of the 2017 WBC, the Netherlands played against Puerto Rico.
Carlos Beltrán then played for Puerto Rico, while Hensley Meulens was in the other dug-out as Orange Manager.
As a player, Meulens played for the Netherlands Team in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia) and the 2001 World Championship in Taipei (Taiwan), amongst other events.
After the 2017 season, both Beltrán and Meulens were named a possible candidates to become Manager of the New York Yankees after the team had separated with Joe Girardi.
But the team then choose Aaron Boone as its new Manager.
In December 2018, Beltrán became a Special Adviser to General Manager Brian Cashman.
After completion of the 2019 season, Bruce Bochy retired as Manager of the San Francisco Giants.
His Bench Coach Meulens was named as one of the intern candidates to succeed him.
On November 13, Gabe Kapler was introduced as new Manager of the Giants.
In 2018 and 2019, Kapler was the Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.
In recent weeks, Meulens' name was also linked to the Miami Marlins to become a member of its coaching-staff.
The complete coaching-staff of new Manager Carlos Beltrán looks as follows:
Hensley Meulens (Bench Coach), Chili Davis (Hitting Coach), Tom Slater (Assistant Hitting Coach), Jeremy Hefner (Pitching Coach), Jeremy Accardo (Assistant Pitching Coach), Ricky Bones (Bullpen Coach), Tony DeFrancesco (1B Coach), Gary DiSarcina (3B Coach/Infield Instructor) and Luis Rojas (Quality Control Coach/Outfield Instructor).
Davis, Slater, Bones, DiSarcina and Rojas also were members of the Mets coaching-staff this year.
(December 8)
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