'A Great Complement': What Don Mattingly Brings to the Blue Jays

On Don Mattingly's decades of playing and coaching experience and the Blue Jays' newest bench coach.

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Don Mattingly wasn't looking for a new job.

After parting ways with the Marlins at season's end, the long-time manager thought he'd be home with his eight-year-old son and dog, Bo, next summer. Other clubs reached out about various positions, but nothing drew him in. Until Ross Atkins called.

For Mattingly, recently hired as Toronto's newest bench coach, his new gig blends the right role with the right team. And for the Blue Jays, the 61-year-old former Yankee brings the perfect supplement to the coaching staff.

"That complement to our staff is a very good one," GM Ross Atkins said. "And one that we felt will help us take yet another step."

Throughout his decades in baseball, Mattingly filled many different roles—first basemen, outfielder, special instructor, hitting coach, bench coach, and manager. The Jays didn't go into the offseason prioritizing experience in their bench coach role, but Mattingly's track record certainly pushed him to the top of candidate lists. 

He brings a unique blend of accomplishments as a player and coach. He's experienced the challenges and choices John Schneider will face next season and he's been in the big moments Bo Bichette will step into. He's won Silver Sluggers, an MVP, a Manager of the Year award, and he's also experienced failures on both sides.

"We talk about how much the game keeps changing and evolving," Mattingly said. "But when a guy's 0-for-15, he's feeling just like I did when I was 0-for-15. So we draw upon that."

Mattingly doesn't just want to be in a "strict bench coach role," holding the clipboard and scratching pinch-hitters off the lineup card. With his rolodex of former roles, Mattingly can aid all over, and he's expected to. He'll fill the traditional duties of a bench coach, while also looking at subtle things he can help Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with defensively (Gold Glover to Gold Glover) and be a sounding board for hitting advice.

With 3500 games as a player and coach, Mattingly also brings "credibility," Atkins said. That's not a trait that can be quantified or ranked, but it's an aspect that exudes calmness in the clubhouse and fosters accountability, Atkins said.

"Coming from someone with his experiences to help players remember where to focus, where the important levers are to be pulling, and how to get back to the process," Atkins said. "He certainly has the credibility and experience to do that in a significant way."

Most importantly, Mattingly is an asset to his new manager. Though Schneider led the Blue Jays back to the playoffs and posted an impressive record after taking over last year, he does have just 74 games of managerial experience at the top level—1750 short of Mattingly. Conversations with Schneider and the skipper's sign-off were the most important points of the bench coach interview process, Mattingly said.

Over four or five chats on various aspects of the game, Mattingly and Schneider began a relationship that now forms the centerpiece of Toronto's coaching staff. Mattingly's there to help Schneider gameplan, run the dugout, and give opinions when called upon. The decisions and the philosophies still come from the skip, but Mattingly will be there to help him when tapped.

"My role, I look at, is I want to support John in anything he wants me to do," Mattingly said.

After mutually parting ways with the Marlins, Mattingly could’ve taken a year off or hung ‘em up. But in the Blue Jays, he saw “the full package”—the combination of youth, experience, aspirations, and environment. And in their new bench coach, the Blue Jays see the full package, too, one they hope is the perfect complement to the coaching staff.