Melvin adds Williams and Price to Padres coaching staff

SAN DIEGO – New San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin has completed his coaching staff with the addition of Matt Williams, former All-Star third baseman and manager of the Washington Nationals, and Bryan Price, former manager of the Cincinnati Reds .

Williams, best known for his 10 seasons with NL West rival San Francisco Giants, will be the third base coach. Price will be the main advisor to the coaching staff.

Melvin, who was hired Oct. 28 to replace fired Jayce Tingler, announced his new staff Monday. Pitching coach Rubén Niebla was hired by general manager AJ Preller a few days before Melvin’s hiring was announced.

Perhaps the most intriguing member of the staff is hitting coach Michael Brdar, 27, who was San Francisco’s minor league hitting coordinator in 2021 and assistant hitting coordinator in 2020.

The rest of the staff includes bench coach Ryan Christenson; first base coach and field instructor, David Macías; receiver coach Francisco Cervelli; and bullpen catchers Herberto Andrade. Returning to the staff are quality assurance coach Ryan Flaherty, bullpen coach Ben Fritz and assistant game planning and coaching Peter Summerville.

Melvin takes control of an exciting team led by All-Stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado that imploded down the stretch, going from holding a one-game lead to second place in the NL wild card on September 9. to be eliminated from playoff contention with eight games to play.

Williams spent the past two seasons as the manager of the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization. He was Melvin’s third base coach for the 2018-19 Oakland Athletics. Williams managed the Nationals between 2014 and 2015, with a 179-145 record and was voted the National League Manager of the Year in 2014.

Williams played 17 major league seasons with San Francisco, Cleveland and Arizona. He played in three World Series with three different teams and became the first player to hit at least one World Series home run with three different clubs. He was a five-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner and a four-time Silver Bat winner.

Price managed Cincinnati between 2014 and 2018, going 279-387. He was a pitching coach for several teams, including under Melvin with Seattle and Arizona.

Melvin said Brdar “speaks the language that the younger hitters that are coming up speak now. On the hitting end you need to be able to reach these guys and speak their language.”

Melvin said he knew within 20 minutes of the interview that he would be hiring Brdar. “It blew me away,” said the manager.

“If you had told me three or four years ago that I would have a 27-year-old hitting coach, I probably would have said no,” Melvin said. “But he’s so good, so knowledgeable … just a very, very smart kid.”