ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays have hired former Fresno Grizzles manger, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, Rodney Linares, as the new third base coach for the upcoming 2019 campaign.
“Rodeny has impacted so many players during his time with the Astros, including Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and J.D. Martinez.” Cash said when asked about Linares. “The amount of positive feedback we received thought this process made it clear that he is a very high quality individual. In addition to his third base coaching duties, he will work with our infielders and bring many years of managing experience to our staff.”
Linares has spent 23 years in professional baseball and his past 21 years have been with the Houston Astros organization. He led the Grizzles to the Pacific Coast League North Division title last season going an impressive 82-57 in his first year with the team.
He’s spent the last 12 years managing in the minors working his way up all the way from Rookie ball. In those 12 seasons, Linares accumulated a 761-694 (.523) record and won two California league championships.
Linares is taking the position vacated by Matt Quatraro, who is now the bench coach, with former Rays bench coach, Charlie Montoyo, leaving to become the new manager or the Toronto Blue Jays.
