Padres Announce 2022 Major League Coaching Staff

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres today announced the members of manager Bob Melvin’s coaching staff for the 2022 campaign. Joining the Major League club will be Ryan Christenson as bench coach, Ruben Niebla as pitching coach, Michael Brdaras hitting coach, Matt Williams as third base coach, David Macias as first base coach and outfield instructor, Francisco Cervelli as catching coach and Herberto Andrade as bullpen catcher. Additionally, Bryan Price will join the Padres as senior advisor to the Major League Coaching staff. Returning to the staff will be Ryan Flaherty as quality control coach, Ben Fritz as bullpen coach, and Peter Summerville as game planning and coaching assistant.

Christenson, 47, joins the Padres as bench coach after spending the last 16 seasons with the Oakland Athletics organization, most recently as Melvin’s bench coach from 2018–21. Prior to his promotion to the Major League staff in Oakland, the Redlands, Calif. native spent five seasons managing in the Athletics farm system. After Single-A stints at Beloit in 2013 and Stockton in 2014, he guided Double-A Midland to back-to-back Texas League Championships in 2015 and 2016. Christenson served as manager at Triple-A Nashville in 2017 and also manned the third base coaching box for team USA in the 2017 All-Star Futures Game. His teams had a 391–307 (.560) record in five seasons. The former outfielder played parts of six seasons in the Majors with Oakland (1998–2001), Arizona (2001), Milwaukee (2002) and Texas (2003) and was a .222 hitter with 16 home runs and 102 RBI in 452 games. He was originally selected by the A’s in the 10th round of the 1995 First-Year Player Draft out of Pepperdine University after earning West Coast Conference Player of the Year honors in his final season with the Waves, leading the league with a .376 batting average.

Flaherty, 35, returns for his third season as a coach for the Major League club and his first as quality control coach, originally joining the staff as Major League advance scout/development coach in 2020 after an eight-year MLB playing career with the Baltimore Orioles (2012–17), Atlanta Braves (2018) and Cleveland Indians (2019). After attending Vanderbilt University, where he was a 2007 Second Team All-American selection by the American Baseball Association and Rivals.com, he played in 547 Major League games (360 starts) and appeared in 13 Postseason games, hitting .265 with two home runs, five RBI and five runs scored. Originally selected by the Chicago Cubs in the first-round (41st overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, he earned Baseball America Short-Season All-Star honors and Northwest League Post-Season All-Star honors in 2008 and was also a Southern League Mid-Season All-Star selection in 2011.

Niebla, 49, joins the Padres as pitching coach after spending the last 21 years with the Indians organization. The El Centro, Calif. native spent the last two seasons as assistant Major League pitching coach for Cleveland after serving as the club’s minor league pitching coordinator from 2013–19. He was a Major League staff assistant in 2010 prior to serving as pitching coach for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers from 2011–12. He also held the role of pitching coach for Team Mexico in the WSBC Premier12 event held in Mexico and Tokyo in November 2019, helping guide the Mexican team to a 2020 Olympic berth the first time in its history. Additionally, he served as the pitching coach for the Mexican National Team in 2015 and has spent several seasons instructing in the Mexican Winter League for Águilas de Mexicali. The left-handed pitcher began his professional career in the independent Atlantic Coast League, Western League and Texas-Louisiana League from 1995–97. He signed with the Montreal Expos as a free agent in 1998 and split 1998–2000 pitching in the Expos and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations, reaching the Triple-A level in Ottawa and Albuquerque. He wrapped up his playing career in 2000 in the Western League, making a total of 122 career minor league appearances (one start) with a 4.49 ERA in 122 appearances (89 ER, 178.IP).

Brdar (pronounced: brrr-dar), 27, joins the Padres as hitting coach after spending the last two seasons with the San Francisco Giants as minor league hitting coordinator (2021) and assistant hitting coordinator (2020). A former infielder at the University of Michigan from 2016–17 after transferring from Diablo Valley (CA) College, Brdar was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36th round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft. The Pleasanton, Calif. native played one season of rookie ball in 2017 before returning to Ann Arbor as a program assistant on the Wolverines coaching staff from 2018–19.

Williams, 56, joins the Padres as third base coach after spending the last two seasons as manager of the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization. 2021 will mark his 10th season on a Major League coaching staff, most recently serving as Melvin’s third base coach for the Athletics from 2018–19. Williams managed the Washington Nationals from 2014–15, earning 2014 National League Manager of the Year honors, and was also on the Diamondbacks Major League staff as first base coach in 2010 and third base coach from 2011–13 and 2016. The Bishop, Calif. native enjoyed a 17-year MLB playing career with San Francisco (1987–96), Cleveland (1997) and Arizona (1998–2003). A .268 career hitter with 378 home runs and 1,218 RBI in 1,866 games, the five-time All-Star (1990, ‘94–96, ’99) also won four Gold Gloves (1991, ‘93–94, ’97) and four Louisville Silver Slugger Awards (1990, ‘93–94, ’97) at third base. He played in three World Series with three different teams (Giants, 1989; Indians, 1997; D-backs, 2001) and became the first player to hit at least one World Series homer with three different clubs.

Fritz, 40, enters his eighth season in the Padres and third as bullpen coach at the Major League level. Fritz assumed the role of pitching coach in August 2021 through the end of the season following the dismissal of Larry Rothschild. He served as coordinator of AZ/rehab from 2018–19, manager for Single-A Tri-City in 2017 and spent the 2015–16 seasons with the club’s Rookie-Level affiliate in Peoria. He was selected in the first-round (30th overall) of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft by the Athletics and pitched seven professional seasons between the A’s (2002–07) and Detroit Tigers (2009) organizations, as well as part of three seasons with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League (2008–10). Overall, the right-handed pitcher posted a career record of 45–61 with a 4.75 ERA in 192 minor league games (187 starts). The San Jose, Calif. native played collegiately at Fresno State, where he was the Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and a second-team All-American selection in 2001.

Macias, 35, comes to the Padres as first base coach and outfield instructor after joining East Carolina University as an assistant coach in July 2021. He spent the previous four seasons coaching at Vanderbilt University under Tim Corbin, helping the Commodores to a pair of College World Series Finals, including the 2019 National Championship. Vanderbilt posted single-season records in 2019 in home runs (100), RBI (541), walks (339) and runs scored (578) en route to a SEC-record 59 wins and their second College World Series title. The Houston, Tex. native was with the Seattle Mariners organization from 2016–17, serving as the coordinator of international player programs in 2016 and ’17 before taking over as manager for Single-A Clinton midway through the 2017 Midwest League season. Macias’ first stint on the Commodores coaching staff came across the 2014–15 seasons, serving as a volunteer assistant in their national runner-up campaign in 2015, and as strength coach in 2014 when they won their first national championship. He spent the 2012 and ’13 seasons as a player development/international scouting assistant with the Chicago Cubs, the club that drafted him in the 19th round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt. During his senior season, the former outfielder was named first team All-SEC and second team All-South Region/All-District 3. His 96 hits during the campaign are tied for fifth-most on Vanderbilt’s single-season list, and he is also among the program’s all-time leaders in at-bats (9th, 784) and hits (10th, 255).

Cervelli, 35, joins the Padres for his coaching debut as catching coach after a 13-year MLB playing career between the New York Yankees (2008–14), Pittsburgh Pirates (2015–19), Atlanta (2019) and Miami Marlins (2020). Originally signed by the Yankees as an international free agent in 2003, the Valencia, Venezuela native made his MLB debut in 2008 and was on the Yankees ALDS and ALCS playoff rosters during the Yankees 2009 World Series run. Cervelli was acquired by the Pirates following the 2014 season and posted career highs in appearances (128) and starts (124) behind the plate in 2015. He led all Major League catchers in on-base percentage in 2016 (.371) and 2018 (.376). Cervelli appeared in 48 games between the Pirates and Braves in 2019, followed by 16 games for Miami in 2020 to close out his playing career. He made a total of 730 Major League appearances, including 688 at catcher, 15 at first base (15), five as the designated hitter, four at third base and two at second base. He also played in the 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classics for the Italian national team.

Price, 59, joins the Padres as senior advisor to the Major League staff after a coaching career that spanned the past three decades, including manager of the Cincinnati Reds from 2014–18, and pitching coach for the Seattle (2000–05), Arizona Diamondbacks (2006–09), Reds (2010–13) and Philadelphia Phillies (2020). Price worked under Melvin for six seasons in Seattle (2003–04) and Arizona (2006–09) and won Major League Coach of the Year honors from Baseball America in 2007 after the D-backs’ pitching staff posted a 4.13 ERA (fourth-best in the National League) and reached the NL Championship Series. The San Francisco, Calif. native also spent 11 years in Seattle’s player development system as both the pitching coordinator (1998–89) and pitching coach for Memphis (1997), Port City (1996), Everett (1995), Bellingham (1992 & 94), Riverside (1993), Peninsula (1991), and the rookie-level Arizona League team (1989–90). In his role with the Padres, Price will work alongside the Major League coaching staff throughout Spring Training and the 2022 season, serving as a both an on-field instructor and a mentor within the clubhouse.

Summerville, 29, returns for his fourth season on the Major League coaching staff and first as game planning and coaching assistant, having spent the previous three seasons as bullpen catcher/coaching assistant. Summerville played four years collegiately at Santa Clara University, was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a minor league free agent in 2016, and spent two seasons (2017–18) with the Dodgers as a development coach.

Andrade, 54, joins the Padres as bullpen catcher after spending the last 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, including the last three seasons as a Major League Coaching Assistant after spending the previous 15 years as a bullpen catcher. Andrade spent three years (1986–88) as a catcher in the Cubs farm system and also played professional baseball in Venezuela, Italy and Colombia before retiring as a player in 1996. He served as an area scout for the Oakland Athletics in 1996 and in the same capacity with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1998 to 2002. Andrade has also spent the last 26 years as a coach and catching instructor during the Venezuelan Winter League, and he participated in the Caribbean World Series four times as a player and once as a coach.