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The Mets are hiring quality control coach Luis Rojas as their new manager, filling the position that was vacated when the team “mutually parted ways” with Carlos Beltran last week. Multiple reporters, including Newsday’s Tim Healey, tweeted out the news early Wednesday afternoon:
Breaking: Luis Rojas will be the Mets’ new manager.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) January 22, 2020
Brodie Van Wagenen says the Mets are negotiating a multi-year deal with Rojas, who will replace Carlos Beltran.
Rojas, 38, will become the second-youngest manager in MLB, as he’s just 24 days older than the Twins’ Rocco Baldelli. He’s the son of longtime major-league manager Felipe Alou, who skippered the Expos from 1992-2001 and the Giants from 2003-06. Rojas, a Dominican native, played five seasons between the Orioles, Marlins, and Expos/Nationals organizations before joining the Mets organization as a coach in 2007. He spent his first season coaching in the major leagues last year under Mickey Callaway, and now he’s suddenly a big-league manager.
Luckily for the Mets, Rojas has plenty of managerial experience at the minor-league levels and has a chance to follow in the footsteps of longtime minor-league manager like Brian Snitker and Mike Shildt who have led their teams to success after finally getting promoted. After serving as a lower-level coach from 2007-10, Rojas got his first minor-league managerial job with the rookie level Gulf Coast Mets in 2011, moved up to the Low-A Savannah Sand Gnats from 2012-14 (and guided that team to a championship in 2013), managed the High-A St. Lucie Mets from 2015-16, then the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies in 2017-18 before moving up to the majors in ‘19.
With spring training so close, it’s expected that Rojas will retain Beltran’s coaching staff, perhaps making an addition to fill the role he vacated upon his promotion.