Ron Washington opens up on returning as Angels manager, old-skipper resurgence and Mike Trout & Ronald Acuna Jr. comparisons (Exclusive)
Ron Washington broke into professional baseball in 1971 as a 19-year-old catcher for the Gulf Coast League Royals.
More than 50 years later, a span which has included 10 seasons as a big-league infielder and eight as a manager, Washington remains a prominent figure in the game.
Now 71, Washington became one of MLB’s feel-good stories this winter when he was hired by the Los Angeles Angels to be their manager – the first time he has skippered a club since resigning from the Texas Rangers in 2014 for personal reasons.
While in Texas, Washington led the Rangers to five consecutive winning seasons, three postseasons and two World Series appearances. But despite the success, he didn’t get another shot at managing until now. Instead, Washington, widely considered one of the best teachers in the game, spent the past nine seasons coaching in Atlanta and Oakland.
The Angels lost their first two games of 2024 under Washington, and he immediately called a team meeting – triggering some mocking within the game for the presumably premature concern. However, the Angels won their next four games, including a road sweep of the Miami Marlins.
As Angels superstar Mike Trout recently said about Washington, “He is big on, when things aren’t right, fixing it. He’ll do everything he can to fix it.”
Ron Washington Interview (Exclusive)
Washington sat down for a detailed, one-on-one interview in which he discussed the thrill of managing again, the need for more minority managerial candidates, this young Angels squad and the resurgence of older managers in the game.
Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed.
Last week, you managed a big-league game for the first time in a decade. Did you allow yourself to soak in the moment a little?
Ron Washington:
I’ve soaked it in since the day I arrived in spring training. I’ve really soaked it in since the day I arrived (as Angels manager) in November. I've been through many, many Opening Days. And this Opening Day was no different than the first time I had an Opening Day when I managed. I had butterflies. I was excited. I certainly wanted my team to perform well. But you can't predict what’s going to happen in a baseball game. So, I was as excited as anyone for Opening Day. It’s just that I've been through so many, I tried to control it. But inside? Oh yeah, I was turning.
What does it mean to you to be managing your own team again?
Ron Washington:
It means everything. Because once you manage, there's nothing like it. You get to put in all the work behind the scenes. And then you get to watch your players go out there and perform. To see the things that you preached and pounded daily, and then you see it coming to fruition. So, that’s the exciting part. The Xs and Os, that's easy. Watching them play is the joy of managing.
Your legacy is arguably as one of the best teachers in the history of the game. Can you still employ that teaching aspect now that you’re managing and not coaching?
Ron Washington:
Maybe not with the consistency that I did it when I was a coach, but I can still do it. You find out when you’re a manager, and you've been a teacher all your life, that you don't want to take things away from your coaches because that’s why you hire them. Now, I'm an overseer as a manager. If I see something I don't like, I go to my coaches about it. If I see something I don't like with the player, I go to the player because I've developed that relationship. You oversee now, but as far as the teaching part of it, that'll never leave my system. I will always be a teacher.
Does it give you pride that teacher is part of your legacy?
Ron Washington:
I don't know about legacy, but I'm very proud of what I have accomplished in the game of baseball. And I'm very proud of it because of all the people that have influenced me in the game. I had a lot of coaches that influenced me and I'm just carrying on their legacy through mine. That's all.
You talked about accomplishments: You had two World Series appearances as a manager, five times with Manager of the Year votes, a .520 career winning percentage. Yet it took 10 years for you to become a manager again. Why do you think the wait was so long?
Ron Washington:
When you interview for a job, the general manager has to convince ownership that you're the guy. It took Perry Minasian to finally convince an owner, Arte Moreno, that I'm the guy that could lead the club to where they wanted to go. I don't sit up at night, have sleepless nights, worrying about that. Because, even when I left Texas, I was still making a difference. And that's the thing in the game of baseball, it's making a difference. And I made a difference in a lot of players lives, even though I wasn't the lead guy. And that was important to me, just as important as being a manager.
There were eight managerial changes this offseason, a quarter of the league. They were three minority hires: two Latinos and yourself. With Dusty Baker’s retirement and your hiring, there are again two black managers out of 30 in the game. How does baseball improve that narrative?
Ron Washington:
I think they’ve got to get (minority candidates) into the room and listen, not just to what they have to offer but to who they are. I think when you get interviews, it's more about selling who you are than about trying to make people think how smart you are. Because there’re tons of smart people in the game of baseball. And it's easy to choose someone smart, but it's not so easy to choose someone who cares. And I think if (teams) were to open it up and bring more minorities in -- mainly, blacks in -- to interview for jobs, and listen to them and know who they are, I think it would open up that hiring a lot more.
You are 71. The last three World Series winning managers were 66 or older. Obviously, all three had excellent teams. But why do you think older managers have had so much recent success in a game that seemingly has moved on from old-school philosophies?
You hit it on the nose. They had good teams. But I think if they were in a different situation, they would have turned them into a good team, just like what I'm trying to do here. I'm trying to turn these guys into winners. I'm trying to make them believe. And I'm trying to teach them how to respect and how to go out and play the game the right way. And if you dedicate yourself to being the best you can be for your teammates and for the organization and you’re doing the proper work, it eventually happens. But as you said, I wasn't fortunate enough to get a good team already. I’ve got a good team, don't get me wrong. They’re good kids. But we haven't learned how to play at the highest level that it’s going to take to be a champion.
Has the recent success of Brian Snitker, Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy inspired or motivated you at all?
Ron Washington:
I don't need inspiration. If you look back on all the places I’ve been, I've been the inspirer. So, I'm inspired right now, and I'm going to continue to be inspired. But I look at it as maybe we’re going back to baseball again. You know, not so many tricks, not so much about the numbers. Let's look at the athlete and see how we can get him into a position to succeed. The numbers are relevant in the game. They are relevant, and they work. But you can't be trying to manage people and worrying about percentages at the same time.
You’re taking on a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2014, is in a difficult division and no longer has Shohei Ohtani. What are reasonable expectations for this club?
Ron Washington:
I think the reasonable expectation is that we just play good baseball. Don't give ballgames away. Go out there and compete every night. Work hard as we can on the things that matter to the game of baseball. And then we'll show the world our identity. But right now, we just want to make certain that we give ourselves a chance every night. And, if we can give ourselves a chance every night, we'll come away with enough wins to be relevant.
You have a slam-dunk Hall of Famer in Mike Trout. What have you seen from him so far, and what does he mean to this club?
Ron Washington:
Well, he is the franchise. He really is. And his leadership is important. What I mean by leadership is just making certain that he shows these young kids how to handle the details of the game. Sometimes, the details are forgotten. Little bitty things are the things that make something huge, not the huge thing that's already visible to the eye. And that’s what he does. He comes in, he studies, he works hard. And when he goes out on the field during practice, he practices. He's not just out there, he practices. And those are the kinds of things that our young kids can feed off of. And that's what Mike brings.
The last few years in Atlanta, you had the opportunity to watch Ronald Acuña Jr. do his thing, and now it’s Trout. Some have compared Acuña to a young Trout. Is that fair? What are the differences?
Ron Washington:
I think they’re two different types of players. Ronald does everything, He is a super talent and God has blessed him. Last year, he won the (NL) MVP. And he won the MVP because of one thing: He took his game to another level in his study. He took his game to another level in taking care of the details. Ronald used to never come out and work on his defense; he worked on his defense every day last year. Ronald never went to the video room. He went to the video room last year. He started understanding the little things of the game. Mike’s got a little bit more experience on Ronald. But Ronald now is in a position to be an MVP candidate every year, just like Mike Trout.
Trout is 32 now and has dealt with injuries the past few years. If he can stay healthy, do you think he can still be the Mike Trout we’ve seen dominate before?
Ron Washington:
If Mike Trout is healthy, you’ve just got to watch him and he’s gonna give you the expectations you’re looking for. Why? Because he's healthy. That’s simple right there. If he's healthy, you’re gonna see what Mike Trout is capable of doing.
Last question. When you were named Angels manager, it seemed like much of the baseball community took to social media to celebrate your return. Why do you think that is?
Ron Washington:
Well, that's because they know who Ron Washington is. They know the dedication that Ron Washington has to the game. They know the dedication that Ron Washington has to the players in the game, especially these young players that are coming to the big leagues so fast. And that is what inspired (the Angels) to be inspired by me, because I'm a teacher.
I think that part of the game, at some point, took a backseat. And now I think that part of the game has gotta come back to the forefront, because the youth are getting to the big leagues so fast, and they are getting here on their talent. But they're not here because they know how to play the game overall.