By Jerry Feitelberg

athleticsfarm.com photo: Ryan Christianson is coming to the show as bench coach for the Oakland A’s after spending the last five seasons in the A’s minor league systems most recently managing Double A Midland to back to back championships

The A’s had a press release today that stated Ryan Christenson will replace Mark Kotsay as bench coach on manager Bob Melvin’s staff next year.

The press release is below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                       October 19, 2017

A’s Name Ryan Christenson Bench Coach

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland A’s named Ryan Christenson as bench coach on Bob Melvin’s coaching staff for the 2018 season, the club announced today.  Chip Hale, who moved from third base to bench coach in mid-June, will return to third base.  The remainder of the A’s coaching staff will return in their same roles.

Christenson has spent the last five seasons managing in the A’s farm system.  After Single-A stints at Beloit in 2013 and Stockton in 2014, Christenson guided Double-A Midland to back-to-back Texas League Championships in 2015 and 2016.  He served as manager at Triple-A Nashville in 2017 and his teams have a 391-307 (.561) record in five seasons.  As a player, Christenson was selected by Oakland in the 10^th round of the June 1995 draft and played parts of six seasons in the majors with Oakland (1998-2001), Arizona (2001), Milwaukee (2002) and Texas (2003).  He was a .222 hitter in 452 games in his career.

In addition to Hale moving back to third base, Mike Aldrete returns as first base coach, Garvin Alston as bullpen coach, Darren Bush as hitting coach, Scott Emerson as pitching coach and Marcus Jensen as assistant hitting/catching coach