A SECOND CHANCE
Managing again for first time since 2014, 71-year-old Washington is eager to lead turnaround
A half field sits beside the parking lot at the Angels' spring training complex in Tempe, Ariz. In the previous three years when the Angels had their camp based in this part of the complex, the field was mostly vacant. Not this year.
“I pull up to the clubhouse and he's out there hitting fungoes at 6:45 in the morning,” center fielder Mike Trout said. “There hasn't been a day that I've pulled up that he's not out there.”
UP NEXT Today: Angels at 12:05 p.m., BSW
Trout was referring to Ron Washington, the Angels' new manager and something of a workaholic. Although Washington is 71, he has not taken to this job with any less verve than when he was a manager 10 years ago or a coach 20 years ago.
“He's got lots of energy,” outfielder Taylor Ward said. “And with all the young guys we have, he's getting us all wound up.”
You wouldn't expect Washington to have any less energy, because he's been riding the adrenaline of a second chance that he desperately wanted.
“There's nothing like leading,” Washington said. “There's nothing like leading a major league baseball club. I've got that rush. But I don't feel no stress.”
When the Angels open the 2024 season in Baltimore today, Washington will be filling out his first lineup card as a big league manager since 2014. He led the Texas Rangers through eight seasons, enjoying the peaks of back-to-back American League pennants. The valleys included a positive test for cocaine and his eventual resignation, which included Washington's admission that he'd been unfaithful to his wife. No other reason was given. He was hired the next year by the Oakland A's to be their third base coach.
Washington had two other interviews for managerial jobs, with the Atlanta Braves in 2016 and the San Diego Padres in 2019.
Although the Braves hired Brian Snitker instead, they thought enough of Washington to make him the third base coach. He'd held that job ever