5) Will Venable
Will Venable has only been retired for a few years but he is the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox and he already has had a view managerial interviews, including with Oakland this offseason.
Venable, 39, last played in the majors in 2016 and in 2017, he was hired as a special assistant to then-Cubs CEO Theo Epstein. He became the Cubs first base coach in 2018 and moved across the diamond to third base in 2020. The Red Sox hired him before the 2021 season.
Considering his quick rise to bench coach and already having interviews with teams for their managerial openings, he could be one of the next handful of people to become a manager.
6) Ramón Vázquez
Vázquez is entering his first season as Boston’s first base coach. However, he was a manager in the minors for the Astros in 2016, after spending two seasons as a minor league coach for them.
He was San Diego’s infield coach in 2017 before joining the Red Sox coaching staff in 2018. From 2018 through 2020, he was their analytics coach and in 2021, he was Alex Cora’s quality control coach. In that role, he was served as a liaison between their MLB advanced scouting and statistical analysts and players and coaches to provide them with the analytics.
Since he has been with Boston, he also has been their interpreter and their infield coach.