The Angels are hiring Max Stassi to serve as their catching coach, general manager Perry Minasian confirmed Wednesday. They’re also adding Keith Johnson and Andy Schatzley to the staff as third base coach and infield coach, respectively. Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register first reported the hires.
Stassi, 34, had not officially announced his retirement as a player. He’s apparently moving into the next phase of his career after playing parts of ten seasons in the big leagues. Stassi had played in Triple-A in the Giants organization this past season, though he spent most of the year on the minor league injured list. His final MLB appearance came in 2022 with the Halos.
Originally a fourth-round pick of the A’s, Stassi was traded to the Astros before he reached Double-A. He debuted with Houston in 2013 and spent the next few seasons as a third catcher on the organizational depth chart. Stassi technically logged parts of seven big league seasons with the Astros, but he combined for just 163 games over that stretch. Only once did he play more than 31 games in a season.
The Angels acquired Stassi in what seemed like a minor deal at the 2019 deadline. He struggled down the stretch but exceeded expectations over the next couple seasons. Stassi hit .278 with seven homers in 31 games during the shortened 2020 schedule. He popped a career-high 13 longballs with a .241/.326/.426 batting line over 319 trips to the plate a year later.
Stassi signed a three-year, $17.5MM extension going into the 2022 season. The Halos gave him the lion’s share of work behind the dish, while Kurt Suzuki served as the backup catcher. Stassi took a career-high 375 plate appearances but slumped to a .180/.267/.303 batting line. That unfortunately will go down as his final MLB action. He missed the entire ’23 season — first because of a hip injury, then attending to a family situation after his son was born three months premature and required several months in NICU.
The Angels traded Stassi to the Braves as part of a shuffling of dead money over the 2023-24 offseason. Atlanta immediately released him, leading to a free agent deal with the White Sox. Stassi’s bothersome hip led him to begin the season back on the injured list, and he underwent season-ending surgery in July. He wasn’t able to stay healthy in the minors last season either, so he’s now moving into coaching. He finishes his playing days with a .212/.295/.361 slash with 41 home runs in a little more than 400 games. He drove in 128 runs and collected 241 hits.
Stassi’s jump into coaching comes with his old team and on his former catching mate’s staff. Suzuki is headed into his first season as an MLB manager. They tabbed an experienced bench coach in John Gibbons and a highly-respected veteran pitching coach in Mike Maddux. Adam Eaton gets his first MLB coaching opportunity as first base/outfield coach.
Johnson and Schatzley had each been managers in the Halos’ farm system — Johnson at Triple-A Salt Lake, Schatzley with Double-A Rocket City. The 54-year-old Johnson has managed in the organization for 14 years. He’d previously worked on the MLB staff as an infield coach and spent a couple seasons as first base coach of the Marlins. He appeared in six games for the Angels in 2000, his only big league playing experience. Schatzley, 41, has managed in the system for the past five seasons after spending nearly a decade in the college ranks. This is his first role on an MLB staff.