Victor Rodriguez named Tribe assistant hitting coach

CLEVELAND– Victor Rodriguez was named assistant hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday, the club announced in a press release.

The addition of Rodriguez completes the Indians’ 2018 coaching staff. Rodriguez replaces Matt Quatraro, who became the Tampa Bay Rays third base coach last month. The Indians previously hired Carl Willis to replace Mickey Callaway as pitching coach after Callaway was hired to manage the Mets, and promoted Scott Atchison to bullpen coach after Jason Bere was dismissed.

Rodriguez has spent the last 23 years in the Boston Red Sox organization as both a player and a coach. Over the last five years, he has served as the organization’s assistant hitting coach. He also served as their minor-league hitting coordinator for six years, and spent the 10 years before that as a Latin Field Coordinator and minor-league hitting coach.

He played 19 years professionally, and appeared in 17 major league games with the Orioles in 1984 and Twins in 1989.