Sherlock returns as Mets announce staff

NEW YORK -- Buck Showalter’s inaugural coaching staff with the Mets is now official. On Friday, the team announced the hirings of five new coaches to join two others who were already in the organization.

The full staff is as follows:

Bench coach: Glenn Sherlock
First-base coach/outfield/baserunning coordinator: Wayne Kirby
Third-base coach/infield instructor: Joey Cora
Hitting coach: Eric Chavez
Assistant hitting coach: Jeremy Barnes
Pitching coach: Jeremy Hefner
Bullpen coach: Craig Bjornson

The highest-profile newcomer is Chavez, who was set to be the Yankees’ assistant hitting coach before the Mets hired him away with the promise of a promotion. A prominent slugger for the Moneyball-era Athletics of the early 2000s, Chavez played 17 seasons with the A’s, Yankees and D-backs, hitting .268 with 260 career homers. He won a Silver Slugger at third base in 2002. Since his retirement, Chavez has worked as a television analyst, a front-office executive and a Minor League manager, working on multiple occasions with Mets general manager Billy Eppler.

Sherlock returns to the Mets following a previous stint as a base coach from 2017-19. He has a longstanding relationship with Showalter, having worked on his coaching staffs with the Yankees in 1995 and the D-backs from 1998-2000. It was Showalter who originally brought Sherlock to Arizona, where the latter spent a total of 21 seasons -- two as a Minor League coach and 19 on the big league staff. Among other accolades over a nearly four-decade career, Sherlock was Mariano Rivera’s first professional manager with the 1990 Gulf Coast Yankees.

Both Chavez and Sherlock were previously reported hires, as were Cora and Kirby. Cora had been a longtime coach for the White Sox, Marlins and Pirates, and he is the older brother of Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Kirby has worked on the coaching staffs of the Rangers and Orioles, serving under Showalter for eight years in Baltimore.

Bjornson also comes to the Mets with plenty of coaching experience, serving as bullpen coach for both the Astros and Red Sox and winning World Series rings in both spots.

Along with those five, the Mets will employ two coaches who were in the organization last season: Hefner, who has been their pitching coach since 2020, and Barnes, whom the club hired last offseason in a player development role. Barnes became farm director when the Mets moved Kevin Howard onto their big league staff; the two have now effectively swapped roles, with Howard moving back to the Minor League side and Barnes joining Showalter’s staff.