25) Ramón Santiago
Ramon Santiago is another managerial candidate off the Detroit Tigers coaching staff.
Santiago, 42, spent parts of 13 seasons as a backup infielder in the majors and he played 10 of those 13 seasons with Detroit. He retired as a player after the 2015 season and he rejoined the Tigers in his first coaching role for the 2018 season.
He was their first base coach in 2018 and 2019 and then he moved across the diamond to be their third base coach in 2020. However, he moved back across the diamond for the 2021 season and is slated to be there in 2022.
26) Pedro Grifol
Pedro Grifol is entering his third year as the bench coach for the Kansas City Royals.
Grifol, 52, has been on the Royals coaching staff since 2013 where he first started as a “special assignment coach” in May. By the end of July, Grifol became their permanent hitting coach. During the 2014 season, he transitioned from hitting coach to KC’s catching coach, which he held through the 2019 season. In 2018, he also added the duties of “quality control coach” as well.
Prior to joining the Royals MLB coaching staff, Grifol was with the Mariners organization in various capacities from 2000 through 2012. In that span, he spent four seasons as a minor league manager, including three seasons at Short-Season A and one season as Advanced-A.
Grifol has had numerous interviews with teams in recent years for their managerial openings, including the Tigers when they hired A.J. Hinch before 2021 and the Giants before they hired Gabe Kapler before 2020. He was a finalist for the Giants as he received two interviews.