Mets name their 2022 Major League Coaching Staff

Glenn Sherlock re-joins to the staff after a two-year absence

The Mets completed the construction of their 2022 big league coaching staff on Friday, officially naming Glenn Sherlock as Buck Showalter’s bench coach, along with Eric Chavez as the club’s hitting coach, Joey Cora as their third base coach, Wayne Kirby as their first base coach, Craig Bjornson as the bullpen coach, with Jeremy Barnes earning a promotion from director of player initiatives to assistant hitting coach.

Jeremy Hefner will continue his role for a third straight season as the primary pitching coach.

Sherlock, 61, rejoins the Mets organization after serving as their third base coach and catching instructor from 2017-2019. He was originally hired by Buck Showalter in 1996 as a minor league instructor in the Diamondbacks organization after working with Showalter in the Yankee organization as a major league catching instructor in 1992, 1994 and 1995. He worked inside the Yankee organization for ten years, managing the GCL Yankees in 1990 and 1993 and the single-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees in 1991.

Sherlock was on Arizona’s major league coaching staff for 19 years before joining the Mets in 2017.

Chavez, 44, spent the bulk of his 17-year playing career with the A’s, slashing a .268/.342/.475 lifetime mark with the A’s, Yankees and Diamondbacks from 1998-2014. His best seasons came between 2001-2006 while with Oakland when he hit .273/.351/.495 while averaging 29 home runs and 96 RBI during that span and winning six consecutive gold gloves.

After retiring, Chavez briefly served as a part-time analyst for A’s telecasts in 2015 before joining the Yankees as a special assistant to Brian Cashman. The following year, Billy Eppler – then general manager of the Angels – hired Chavez as a special assistant, and became manager of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees late in the 2018 season.

After the 2021 season, the Yankees hired Chavez as an assistant hitting coach, although manager Aaron Boone viewed Chavez as a, “jack-of-all-trades” for the coaching staff.

Cora, 56, had a playing career which spanned 11 seasons with four clubs. He began his career with the Padres in 1987 before moving onto the White Sox in 1991. He then hit the arc of his career when he moved onto the Mariners for the 1995 season, the beginning of a four-year run during which he hit .293/.355/.406 with Seattle.

Cora began his coaching career in the Mets organization and moved on to the White Sox in 2003 as Ozzie Guillen’s third base coach and then his bench coach in 2006. He and Guillén were let go by the White Sox after the 2011 season and immediately moved on to be Guillen’s bench coach for the Marlins in 2012. He joined the Pirates organization as the manager of their Double-A affiliate in 2016 and had served as the club’s third base coach since 2017 before he was let go following the 2021 season.

Bjornson, who turns 53 on February 14, had a modest pitching career in the Astros organization, never reaching higher than A-Ball before retiring after just three seasons in 1993. He began his professional coaching career in 2002 as a minor league pitching coach for the Spokane Indians before moving on to the Expos organization in 2003, followed by hops through the Dodgers organization from 2007-2008 and the Rockies organization from 2009-2011. He became the Astros bullpen coach in 2012, was briefly re-assigned in 2013 and then got his job back for the 2014 season, a role he held through their championship season before assuming the same role for the Red Sox in 2017, a position held through the 2020 season.

Barnes, 34, was drafted by the Phillies as their 11th round pick in the 2009 draft but never made it to the big leagues, retiring as a player in 2015 after spending three seasons in the Australian Baseball League. He then joined the Astros farm system as a hitting coach and spent time as their minor league hitting coordinator as well. He was hired last year by the Mets and has co-led the player development division of the organization along with Kevin Howard.