45) Don Wakamatsu
Through the 2021 season, Don Wakamatsu was the bench coach for the Texas Rangers.
Wakamatsu, who turns 59 in February, had been the Rangers bench coach since 2018 and it was his second stint with the team. He was the bench coach for the Rangers under Buck Showalter from 2003 through 2006 and the team’s third base coach for Ron Washington in 2007. He joined Texas’s coaching staff from Arizona (where Showalter was prior to Texas) as he was a minor league manager for them from 1997 through 1999.
Prior to his last stint with Texas, he was the bench coach for the Royals for four seasons from 2014 through 2018. In 2013, he was a special assignment scout for the Yankees. That came after he was the bench coach for Toronto in 2011 and 2012.
He was the manager for the Mariners in 2009 and part of 2010 before he was fired after a 42-70 start to the season. He joined them after he was with Oakland for a season as bench coach.
Prior to his first role with the Rangers, he was in the Angels organization as their Double-A manager (2000) and minor league catching coordinator (2001-2002).
Since his managerial job with the Mariners over a decade ago, he interviewed with the Rays when they hired Kevin Cash for the 2015 seasons, the Rockies for their managerial job before they hired Bud Black, the D-Backs before they hired Torey Lovullo (each before the 2017 season), and the Rangers before they hired Chris Woodward (before the 2019 season).