Mets' new manager Luis Rojas has 'baseball in his blood,' says team exec Jeff Wilpon

Luis Rojas / AP file photo by John Raoux
Luis Rojas / AP file photo by John Raoux

NEW YORK - The New York Mets have hired Luis Rojas as their manager to replace Carlos Beltrán.

The Mets announced the move Thursday, a week after Beltrán departed without managing a game. Rojas, who had been the team's quality control coach, was given a multiyear contract.

"I will work tirelessly to help this team win," Rojas said in a release announcing the move. "I believe this team and coaching staff can do special things, and I look forward to working together with everyone to reach our goals."

Rojas became New York's fourth manager in a 2 1/2-year span and its third in four months. The team planned a news conference Friday at Citi Field to introduce him as the club's 23rd skipper - counting Beltrán - since its 1962 debut season.

"He has a good finger on the pulse of this particular team. He was part of it last year," Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said Wednesday. "He knows these guys, and he knows how to communicate to them. Every returning player on the roster has a relationship with him, and that's valuable to us at this time."

Beltrán was let go last week as part of the fallout from the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

The 38-year-old Rojas is the son of former Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou and the brother of former MLB outfielder Moises Alou, who spent his final two seasons (2007-08) with the Mets.

"Luis has grown up with baseball in his blood, as his family is part of baseball royalty," Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said in the release.

A minor league manager for eight years, Rojas has worked in the organization since 2007 but had never coached in the majors before joining Mickey Callaway's staff last season.

"Luis earned this job. He has literally trained his whole life to be a manager," Van Wagenen said. "He is considered one of the better in-game decision makers simply that we have in the organization."

Rojas' duties in the dugout as quality control coach included serving as "a conduit between the front office and coaching staff on all issues including game preparation, strategy and analytics," according to the team's media guide. He also was New York's outfield coach in 2019 and led the effort in preparing hitters for opposing pitchers, Van Wagenen said.

Callaway was fired after the season, and Rojas interviewed for the vacancy before New York hired Beltrán on Nov. 1. Van Wagenen said Rojas knew he was "a serious candidate" back in October.

"It's always helpful to have familiarity," Van Wagenen said. "The fact that he was so actively involved with the coaches this fall in preparation for spring training, in preparation for the season - he was already asserting himself more in a leadership role with this new coaching staff and helping Carlos learn some of the managerial things that he hadn't been exposed to before."

That played "a significant role" in the Mets choosing Rojas, according to Van Wagenen. The team decided against external options such as ESPN analyst Eduardo Pérez, who interviewed for the job last fall.

"I think it's the fit, it's where the team is, it's what culture we're trying to create," Van Wagenen said, pointing out that most of New York's homegrown talent played for Rojas in the minors. "He's respected by the players, he's trusted by the players and he's someone that we have great confidence in."

Beltrán's tenure lasted just 2 1/2 months and ended after baseball commissioner Rob Manfred singled him out last week in a report on a cheating scheme used by the Astros during their World Series championship season in 2017, when Beltrán played for them.

No players were disciplined by Major League Baseball, but three days later the Mets announced Beltrán was out as manager. The sides said it was a mutual decision, and Beltrán apologized for his role in the scam. He said he didn't want to be a distraction to the Mets.

Less than a week afterward, they transitioned to Rojas.

"When it came to this unfortunate circumstance, we didn't want to change the values that we outlined for ourselves in the initial process," Van Wagenen said. "We wanted to continue the momentum that we have with the work that's been done in preparation for spring training, and we felt like Luis was in a position to be a leader of that group."

Astros manager AJ Hinch and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora also were let go after being implicated in MLB's sign-stealing report. Neither the Astros nor Red Sox have named replacements.

Rojas, born in the Dominican Republic, played in the minors with the Baltimore Orioles, the Florida Marlins and the Expos/Washington Nationals for six years (2000-05) but never got above rookie ball.

He is entering his 14th season working in the Mets organization, including those eight as a minor league manager. He coached for New York in the Dominican Summer League in 2007, got his first managerial role with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League team in 2011 and also managed at Class A and Class Double-A. In the Dominican Winter League, he won a 2016 championship with the Leones del Escogido.

Notably, he was the manager at Double-A Binghamton during Pete Alonso's breakout 2018 season, when he led the minors with 36 home runs. Alonso was the National League rookie of the year this past season, when he set an MLB rookie record with 53 homers.

After a strong second half, New York finished 86-76 last season but missed the playoffs, finishing third in the NL East Division behind Atlanta and Washington, which went on to win the World Series.

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