(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
   Hensley Meulens new Hitting Coach of Colorado Rockies
Nederlands
  DENVER, Colorado / THE BRONX, NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Hensley Meulens has been named Hitting Coach of the Major League-team of Colorado Rockies, the club announced on Monday-evening (November 7).
Meulens is one of two new members in the coaching-staff of Manager Bud Black.
The other is Warren Schaeffer, who was named as 3B Coach/Infield Coach.
Meulens succeeds Dave Magadan, while Schaeffer replaces Stu Cole.
The contracts of these two coaches were not renewed after the season.
Colorado Rockies was 68-94 this season and finished in last place in the West Division of the National League.
...Hensley Meulens...
...new Hitting Coach Colorado Rockies...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Since February of this year, the 55-year old Hensley Meulens was one of the two Assistant Hitting Coaches of New York Yankees in the staff of Manager Aaron Boone.
With Casey Dykes, Meulens assisted Hitting Coach Dillon Lawson.
Throughout the 2022 season, Meulens was a much visible coach in the Yankee dug-out, showing his enthousiasm and frequently seen talking to players.
Aaron Judge broke both the Yankees- and American League-record by hitting 62 homeruns.
The previous record was 61, set in 1961 by Roger Maris.
This season, New York was 99-63 to finish in first place of the American League East Division.
The team then won the best-of-five Division Series against Cleveland Guardians, but then was swept in four games by Houston Astros in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series.
Meulens earlier was a coach of San Francisco Giants for ten seasons (eight as Hitting Coach, two as Bench Coach) and one with New York Mets (as Bench Coach).
He wasn't active as a Major League-coach in 2021.
Warren Schaeffer was the Manager of Colorado's Triple-A team Albuquerque Isotopes the past three seasons.
In Tuesday's Media Release, the National League-team from Denver also announced that Bench Coach Mike Redmond, 1B Coach Ron Gideon, Pitching Coach Darryl Scott, Bullpen Coach Reid Cornelius and Assistant Hitting Coaches Andy Gonzalez and P.J. Pilittere will all return to the staff of Bud Black.
In the Media Release, Bud Black states:
,,I'm excited to have Hensley and Warren join our coaching staff for the 2023 season.
They both bring their own unique set of skills and experiences to our club and they could not be more respected throughout both our organization and across all of baseball''.
It was also reported that Meulens' experience as Hititng Coach will help the team next season.
This year, Colorado hit 149 homeruns, which tied the team for tenth place in the Major League.
At San Francisco Giants, Hensley Meulens was a member of the coaching-staff of Manager Bruce Bochy for ten seasons.
In his first eight seasons (2010-2017), Meulens was Bochy's Hitting Coach.
In these eight years, San Francisco won the World Series three times (2010, 2012, 2014).
In 2018 and 2019, Meulens was the Bench Coach of Bochy, who retired after the 2019 season.
Recently, Bochy was named as the new Manager of Texas Rangers.
In December 2019, Meulens was named Bench Coach of New York Mets.
A month earlier, Carlos Beltrán had been named new Manager of the New York-team.
But things changed in January 2020 when Beltrán and the Mets separated due to his involvement in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal.
Luis Rojas, who was the Quality Control Coach/Outfield Instructor in the announced staff of Beltrán, then was named new Manager.
The rest of the staff remained unchanged and so, Meulens was the Bench Coach of Rojas in 2020.
From September 2020 on, there were several organizational changes within the New York Mets.
In December of that year, the contract of Meulens was not renewed.
As a player, Meulens was signed by New York Yankees in October 1985.
On August 23, 1989, Hensley Meulens, nicknamed 'Bam Bam', made his playing debut in the Major League and became the first player from Curaçao to play in the Majors.
On that day, New York Yankees played at home against Boston Red Sox and Meulens was the starting third baseman for New York.
He struckout twice, but also recorded his first Major League-basehit, walked (in his first at bat) and scored a run.
In the remainder of the 1989 season, Meulens would play in seven more games and batted .179 (5-for-28).
...Hensley Meulens as Manager of the Netherlands...
...during the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Meulens then also played for New York Yankees in 1990 through 1993.
In the 1990 season, Meulens mostly played for Columbus Clippers in Triple-A.
Meulens batted .285 with 26 homeruns, batted in 96 runs and helped Columbus win the title in the International League.
Afterwards, Meulens was named Most Valuable Player of the International League.
In 2016, he was elected into the International League Hall of Fame.
The infielder played his most games one season for New York Yankees in 1991, appearing 96 games.
He then batted .222 (64-for-288) with eight doubles, one triple and six homeruns, batting in 29 runs and scoring 37.
In the following season, Meulens played in only two Yankee-games, but was 3-for-5 with a homerun.
Following the 1993 season, Meulens was released by New York.
Hereafter, Hensley Meulens went on to play three seasons (1994-1996) in Japan, where he still is a fan-favorite.
In Nippon Professional Baseball, Meulens played for Chiba Lotte Marines (1994) and Yakult Swallows (1995-1996), with whom he won the Japan Series in 1995.
In December 1996, Meulens was signed by Atlanta Braves, but then was released again in March 1997.
Less than a month later, he was signed by Montreal Expos.
There, Meulens returned to the Majors during the 1997 season when he played in sixteen games for the Canadian club.
Being a Free Agent after the season, he was signed in December 1997 by Arizona Diamondbacks for whom he played in seven more Major League-games in 1998.
Early August 1998, Arizona sent Meulens to Chicago White Sox, but he never played for this team in the Majors.
Overall, Meulens played in 182 Major League-games in seven seasons, hitting .220.
He collected 109 basehits, including 15 homeruns and batted in 53 runs.
As he was without a contract following the 1998 season, Meulens went on to play for Newark Bears in an Independent League in 1999.
In 2000, Meulens returned to Asia to play for SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization.
In 2000, he also played for Yaquis de Obregon and Saraperos de Saltillo in Mexico.
In the next two seasons, Bam Bam again played in Mexico, first for Saltillo (2001), then for Pericos de Puebla (2002).
He retired during the 2002 season, following an injury.
After his playing career, Meulens was a coach of Bluefield Orioles (Baltimore Orioles, Rookie League) in 2003 and 2004.
He then was the Hitting Coach of Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates, Triple-A) for four seasons (2005-2008).
Next, Meulens was the Hitting Coach of Fresno Grizzlies (San Francisco Giants, Triple-A) in 2009, then was promoted to the Major League in 2010, succeeding Carney Lansford as Hitting Coach.
Meulens also coached in the Arizona Fall League for Peoria Saguaros following the 2005 season and for Honolulu Sharks in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League following the 2006 season.
...Hensley Meulens addresses his players...
...during the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Hensley Meulens is involved in coaching of the Netherlands National Baseball Team since 2003.
In that year, he served as 3B Coach and Bench Coach during the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands), the European Championship, Olympic Qualifier (both held in the Netherlands) and the World Championship (in Cuba).
In 2004, Meulens was the Orange Bench Coach during the Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands) and the Olympic Games in Athens (Greece).
In these two years, Meulens was a member in the staff of Manager Robert Eenhoorn with former Major League-player/Manager Davey Johnson serving as Bench Coach and Assistant Manager.
Meulens then was the Hitting Coach of the Netherlands Team during the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009.
Although he was no member of the coaching-staff, the Netherlands (led by Manager Brian Farley) captured the title in the 2011 World Championship in Panama, winning against Cuba in the Final.
However, Meulens had been involved in the compilation of the team, which included future Major Leaguers Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius and Jonathan Schoop and former Major Leaguer Shairon Martis.
All players and staff-members, including Meulens, received a Royal Decoration afterwards.
Meulens was named Manager of the Orange-squad for the World Baseball Classic in 2013 and 2017.
Both times, Meulens guided the team to the Semi-Final, finishing in fourth place.
Former Major League-pitcher, Hall of Famer and Dutch-born Bert Blyleven then was the team's Pitching Coach.
Meulens also was the Netherlands Manager during two Premier12-tournaments (2015, 2019) and last year during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico.
Back home on Curaçao, Hensley Meulens also runs a Baseball Academy.
As a player, Meulens played for the Netherlands Team in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), the 2001 World Championship in Taipei (Taiwan), the 2002 Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands) and the 2002 Intercontinental Cup in Havana (Cuba).
During the Olympic Games in Sydney, Meulens delivered a deciding double for the Netherlands in a major upset against Cuba, which led to a 4-2 victory.
This was the first-ever loss for Cuba in Olympic competition.
Meulens played in 34 official international games for the Netherlands.
(November 8)
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