Rangers GM Chris Young Once Played For Tony Beasley

The new Texas baseball chief and Rangers interim manager crossed paths in the minors.

Texas Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley is focused on doing whatever he can to move the Rangers back in the direction that organization leadership wants. Any potential job interview isn’t on his mind.

It may not weigh on his mind because he and Rangers general manager Chris Young go way back, as recounted by The Dallas Morning News.

Young played 13 years in the Major Leagues, but the former Princeton product had to work his way through the minor leagues first. That’s where he and Beasley crossed paths, in of all places, Hickory, N.C.

That was back in 2002, when Young was two years removed from being Pittsburgh’s third-round pick and Beasley was working his way up the coaching ranks as Hickory’s manager. Today, Hickory is the Rangers’ High Class-A affiliate.

Beasley was already starting to gather a reputation as a potential Major League coach or manager. His own playing career never led to an MLB promotion. But, in 2001, he led the Williamsport Crosscutters to a 46-26 in the New York-Penn League.

In 2002, he took over at Hickory, where he guided the Crawdads to the 2002 South Atlantic League crown, led them to the fifth-best season in all of the minor leagues and earned Baseball America’s Low Class-A Manager of the Year award.

Young spent two seasons with the Crawdads and the second under Beasley before he was traded to Montreal. He got a close-up look at Beasley’s managerial style long before he took over for Chris Woodward, who was fired on Monday.

“He was a great leader, a great person and had a unique ability to connect and form relationships,” Young said about Beasley. “He can be demanding and stern while letting you know he cares about you. He understands what a team should be, and the sacrifice required by each individual for the good of the group. And I think he’s just the same now as he was 20 years ago when I played for him.”

Young will now determine if Beasley will get the full-time managing job with the Rangers. Both he and former team president Jon Daniels — who was fired on Wednesday — said that Beasley’s prospects of keeping the job weren’t entirely contingent on his win-loss record.

But the fact that Young played for Beasley and that the two have known each other for 20 years adds a spin to Young’s decision when it comes time to hire a new manager.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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