Melvin gets 3-year deal from Padres

Bob Melvin put on a Padres home pinstriped jersey and stated the obvious about becoming San Diego’s new manager.

“What an opportunity. I’m probably as surprised to be here as you all are,” Melvin said Monday after being introduced at a news conference at Petco Park.

The hiring of Melvin, who has 18 seasons of big league managerial experience, was a surprise for a few reasons. He was still under contract for one year with the Oakland Athletics, where he spent the last 11 years, and Padres general manager A.J. Preller had a proclivity for hiring skippers with no previous big league managing experience.

Melvin inherits a team that had five All-stars — including Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth — but underwhelmed after the trade deadline.

The Padres were 79-83 and third in the NL West, 28 games behind San Francisco.

Melvin signed a three-year contract to replace Jayce Tingler, who was fired after the worst collapse in team history.

Rangers hire Ecker as bench coach: The Texas Rangers have hired Donnie Ecker as their bench coach and also offensive coordinator, a role in which he will oversee the organization’s overall hitting program at both the major and minor league levels.

Texas is coming off a 102-loss season and ranked 29th in the majors with a .232 team batting average. The Rangers were last with a .670 OPS, and their American League-low 625 runs were 34 fewer than the Baltimore Orioles.

Ecker was introduced Monday as the replacement for bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who was not retained after the season. The 35-year-old Ecker spent the past two seasons as a hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants.