The Miami Marlins, who desperately need something to get Miami baseball fans interested in the franchise, have hired Barry Bonds as their hitting coach.
New Marlins manager Don Mattingly also picked Tim Wallach as bench coach; Juan Nieves as pitching coach; Brian Schneider for catchers; and Lorenzo Bundy as outfield/baserunning coach, the Marlins announced. Frank Menechino will be assistant hitting coach.
Bonds, 51, has never coached at any level in baseball and retired from the game in 2007. He was invited to the San Francisco Giants’ 2014 spring training as a special instructor for a week.
Bonds won seven MVP awards during his 22 seasons in the Majors and currently tops the all-time home run list with 762. Still, he remains one of the most controversial figures in baseball history due to his connection with steroids. He was even indicted on perjury charges in the federal government’s BALCO investigation, although the conviction was overturned earlier this year.
This might be a sign that Bonds is being welcomed back into baseball, even if fans and the media still don’t like him. Other players linked to steroids have been making their way back to the game. For example, Mark McGwire is now the San Diego Padres’ bench coach and Roger Clemens is a Houston Astros special assistant.
The Marlins finished third in the NL East in 2015, but were 20 games under .500. The team finished with a .260 batting average, but only hit 120 home runs, next to last in the NL.