Angels News: GM Perry Minasian’s Reasoning for Making Coaching Changes

He wanted to get some new voices in the Angels' clubhouse.

On Monday, the Angels made a slew of changes to their coaching staff. Among them was hiring Marcus Thames to take over the hitting coach responsibilities, and bringing in Bill Hezel as an assistant pitching coach. 

Angels General Manager Perry Minasian was asked about those changes at the GM meetings on Monday. He shared the team's reasoning for making these moves. 

"Obviously we did not perform well offensively in ’22," Minasian said. "There’s no secret there. I think a lot of that was personnel. We had a lot of injuries. A lot of players got at-bats that we weren’t necessarily planning on giving at-bats to in April. With that being said, just mixing it up, a change, a new voice."

The Angels definitely needed to change things up after going 73-89, and they had already made the decision to bring back Phil Nevin for the 2023 season. So that meant some of the team's staff was going to have to take the hit, and we saw that when hitting coach Jeremy Reed was fired a few weeks back.

But now, the Angels have some fresh voices in the locker room — and they have their coaching staff finalized ahead of free agency, which begins on Thursday. Hopefully Thames and Hezel can provide a jolt to the team on both sides of the field.