Front Page: Twins Tab Mike Bell as New Bench Coach

[Seth Stohs]

According to Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic, the Minnesota Twins have filled one of their remaining coaching jobs on Tuesday, hiring Mike Bell as their bench coach. He replaces the recently-departed Derek Shelton who was named the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.Mike Bell has been in professional baseball for the past 27 years, but it’s fair to say that he has spent all 45 years of his life around the big leagues.On Tuesday, he is expected to be named the Twins new Bench Coach.

 

His brother David Bell played for and is now the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. His father Buddy Bell spent 18 seasons in the big leagues and managed for nine seasons. His grandfather Gus Bell spent 15 seasons in the big leagues in the 1950s and 1960s.

 

Mike Bell was the 30^th overall pick in the 1993 by the Rangers out of nationally-renowned Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. It took some time, but Bell eventually got to the big leagues too. He played in 19 games for the Reds in 2000. He had six hits over 31 plate appearances, but he did hit big-league homers off of Curt Leskanic and Steve Kline.

 

Following his retirement as a player in 2005, he began a career in coaching and managing. He has spent the past eight seasons as the Vice President of Player Development for the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the role, according to the Diamondbacks website, he oversaw and maintained relationships with affiliates, managed the coordinators and coaching staffs and handled player acquisitions and transactions.

 

He now joins Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli’s coaching staff which is still missing one coach. The team has yet to hire an assistant pitching coach (and bullpen coach) to replace Jeremy Hefner, who left to become the Mets pitching coach.

 

The Twins have now made the news official.

 

Twins Current Coaching Staff

Rocco Baldelli - Manager

Mike Bell - Bench Coach

Edgar Varela - Hitting Coach

Wes Johnson - Pitching Coach

Rudy Hernandez - Assistant Hitting Coach

Tony Diaz - 3B Coach and Infield Coach

Tommy Watkins - 1B Coach and Outfield Coach

Bill Evers - Catchers Coach

 

Assistant Pitching Coach - To Be Named Later

 

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[bobs]

  Is it weird to say that the new bench coach has big shoes to fill?  I think the loss of Shelton is more important than many realize.

[Mike Sixel]

Congrats and good luck!

[tvagle]

For whom the Bell tolls?

 

Can we expect more dust-ups with other teams or is that not a hereditary trait

 

Here's hoping Mike Bell becomes the next White Sox manager after this season of success

[Rosterman]

Bill Evers is still a coach, too?

 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Bill Evers is still a coach, too?

 

Yes, I will add him. 

[twinkiesfan11]

Interesting that they hired a managerial candidate that Derek Shelton would have competed against for the Mets and Pirates openings. Seems like an excellent hire but would assume he won't be here for long. 

 

Really curious to see how they fill out the assistant pitching coach position. With Pete Maki and Justin Willard both showing up on some lists of up and coming coaches you have to wonder if they'll promote one of them and backfill with another MiLB coordinator? 

[operation mindcrime]

Good luck to him! Go Twins!!!!! \m/

[h2oface]

Diaz still making the decisions at third. Yikes.

[mikelink45]

I know Buddy and Gus - I have no idea if Mike Bell is good or not.  How do you judge bench coaches?  I never see an article about what a bad bench coach someone is.  How did Shelton do so bad that Molitor got fired, but so good that Baldelli was MOY?  Were there Bench coaches in the 50s,60s,70s, 80s?  I don't know.

 

 

There are many positions in the coaching staff that just can't be judged by people like me.  If the batters are lousy does that make the hitting coach bad?  If the Pitchers include a CY Young does that make the pitching coach good? 

 

No answer to my own questions so have a seat on the Bench Mike and hopefully all will go well and Rocco will like your company.

[Halsey Hall]

Grandfather Gus Bell.  Now that makes me feel really old.  Where'd the time go?

[HrbieFan]

He definitely has the experience! He has interviewed a few times for managerial jobs too. Seems like a good addition

[Bomba2026]

So is this the replacement for the guy that sits next to Rocco in the dugout but they never talk? Well good luck and be grateful you are not our Pitching coach!

[Thegrin]

Twins need an assistant pitching coach ? What happened to Everyday Eddie ?