Rangers GM Chris Young on Tony Beasley: 'Ultimate Professional'
Bruce Bochy and Tony Beasley were the only two people formally interviewed to be Texas Rangers manager for 2023.
Bochy got the job. Beasley is returning as the team’s third-base coach after spending the last two months of last season as the team’s interim manager.
Any tension? Not at all, said general manager Chris Young.
“It’s been tremendous,” Young said. “I know Boch has relied on him a lot. Bease has a unique ability to connect, not just with players, not just with staff but with people throughout the organization. I really can’t express the value he brings to this organization.”
Beasley joined the Rangers as part of Jeff Banister’s staff in 2015 and is the club’s longest-tenured coach. He has grown so respected in the clubhouse that when Beasley cleared the four-year mark of being cancer-free, pitcher Martín Pérez dedicated his complete-game shutout over the Houston Astros to him and gave Beasley the game ball.
Beasley was interviewed for the full-time job right after the season ended. He was 17-31 as the interim manager after taking over for fired Chris Woodward in mid-August.
Once Bochy was hired, he and the rest of the Texas coaching staff — with the exception of its co-pitching coaches Doug Mathis and Brendan Sagara — were invited back to join the 2023 Major League staff. All accepted, including Beasley.
Beasley told The Dallas Morning News in October why he came back.
“This is probably what we needed,” Beasley said. “I say that reluctantly, but honestly. How could I be upset with it? He (Young) made a good choice. Bochy can help (Young) him more in that role than I can. If you hire me, it’s not necessarily a win-now move; you are looking to grow. Bruce Bochy didn’t come out of retirement to lose. That gets through to people.”
Bochy had the staff to his home in Nashville in January for team-building. He said last month that he’s looking forward to leaning more on Beasley as Spring Training approaches next week in Surprise.
Young is certainly glad to have Beasley back.
“Tony is the ultimate professional,” Young said. “He’s handled this unbelievably well. He’s such a leader, such a great person. Really, in a lot of ways, he’s the glue of our coaching staff and I really have great admiration for him as a person, the way he’s gone about everything and the way he’s supported us.”
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