Vázquez named Sox bench coach

The Red Sox have officially promoted Ramón Vázquez to the role of bench coach for the 2023 season.

Vázquez is entering his sixth season with the coaching staff and has served in a number of roles. In 2022, he took over as first base coach, a role previously held by Tom Goodwin, while also coordinating the baserunning instruction.

From 2018-20, Vázquez worked as a coach and interpreter. During the 2021 season, Vázquez still served in the role as team interpreter but also was promoted to quality control coach.

“I’m very, very excited for the opportunity,” Vázquez said. “I’m looking forward to working in a different job with different responsibilities. It’s a lot more responsibility, and the fact that they trust me to get this done, it’s one of the best organizations in baseball, if not the best.

“There’s only one bench coach in the world for the Boston Red Sox, and I’m looking forward to it very, very much.”

Vázquez, 46, will replace Will Venable, who was bench coach for two seasons. Venable, who is widely considered a future big league manager, joined the Rangers this offseason as associate manager under Bruce Bochy.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who is close friends with Vázquez, sees him as a future manager, too, and is excited to work even closer with him.

“He is a person that many people do recognize in our coaching staff, but he’s extremely important,” Cora said in a video the Sox posted to their Twitter account. “When Dave [Dombrowski] chose me as manager of the Red Sox, the first person I told him I wanted on my staff was Ramón, for many reasons.

“He’s a professional. He’s a student of the game. He communicated very well even though he’s very quiet. He always stays behind the scenes of everything, but has a very good relationship with the players.”

Vázquez, who like Cora is of Puerto Rican descent, was a 27 th-round draft choice by the Mariners in 1995. He made his debut with Seattle in 2001 and played parts of nine seasons in the big leagues.

Vázquez was acquired by the Sox from the Padres ahead of the 2005 season as part of a four-player deal that included Dave Roberts. He played in 27 games before being traded to Cleveland in July for Cora.

Vázquez has won four championships as a manager in the Puerto Rican Winter League.