(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
   Hensley Meulens back in Majors; Named Assistant Hitting Coach New York Yankees
Nederlands
 THE BRONX, NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Hensley Meulens returned to the Major League as a coach, as he was named Assistant Hitting Coach of New York Yankees, the club announced on Monday-evening (February 28).
With that, the 54-year old Curaçao-born Meulens returns to the club where he made his Major League-debut as a player in 1989.
Meulens earlier was a coach of San Francisco Giants for ten seasons and one with New York Mets.
He wasn't active as a Major League-coach last year.
...Hensley Meulens as Manager of the...
...Netherlands during the 2017...
...World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
After the 2017 season, Hensley Meulens was one of the leading candidates for the position of Manager at New York Yankees to succeed Joe Girardi, whose contract was not renewed.
At that moment, Meulens was the Hitting Coach of San Francisco Giants, but coaches almost always get permission to talk to other clubs when being a candidate for Manager.
Aaron Boone became the new Manager of New York and Meulens remained with San Francisco and was named Bench Coach in the staff of Manager Bruce Bochy, with whom he had worked since 2010.
In his first eight seasons with San Francisco (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.
That also led to changes on the coaching-staff, as a new Manager compiles his own group of coaches.
However, Meulens wasn't without a job for long, as he was named Bench Coach of New York Mets in early December 2019.
A month before, Carlos Beltrán had been named new Mets-Manager.
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.
At New York Yankees, Meulens will be reunited with Luis Rojas.
In the 2021 season, New York Mets was 77-85 and the club declined the option in the contract of Rojas in October.
The next month, New York Yankees named Rojas as its new third base coach.
Meulens will be one of two Assistant Hitting Coaches, the other being Casey Dykes.
They will both assist Hitting Coach Dillon Lawson.
There are eleven coaches in the staff of Manager Aaron Boone.
In October 1985, Meulens was signed by New York Yankees.
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).
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.
...Hensley Meulens hitting grounders during...
...a practice session in 2015...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
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 Neward 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 with Bert Blyleven during the...
...2013 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.
(February 28)
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