New manager Charlie Montoyo promises to make Blue Jays and their fans proud

A new management era for the Toronto Blue Jays began Monday afternoon.

Charlie Montoyo was officially introduced as the 13th coach in club history at a Rogers Center press conference less than a week after his replacement by John Gibbons. A 53-year-old native of Maniti, Puerto Rico, signed a three-year contract for the 2021 season, with a team option for 2022, having worked for 22 years in the organization of the United States. Tampa Bay Rays.

"I do not take it for granted," said Montoyo. "You do not know how grateful I am for this opportunity. I'll do my best, guys, to make you proud. "

Montoyo, a field player in his playing years who has played four games for the Montreal Expos over a 10-year career, has spent 18 years managing minor league teams within the team. Rays organization before qualifying for the third base coach of the team. . He finished his term in Tampa Bay as a bench coach of a young team that unexpectedly managed a 90-win season in 2018, finishing third in the American League East.

There are similarities between the current Jays team and this one, Montoyo said. The Toronto roster in 2019 should include a number of youths, similar to the Tampa Bay roster last year: this will involve a lot of player education and development. But the fact that Montoyo is coming from Rays does not mean he will automatically use some of his club's favorite tactics last season, such as using an opening game in the matches.

"Part of the management is to adapt to what you have, so I'm going to adapt to what we have," he said. "We will play to win … I will adapt to the team of our choice at the end of the spring training and that is how I will manage."

Montoyo was jovial when he first met the media in Toronto, thanked a long list of family members, friends and people involved in the game and cracked a few jokes until the end. The new manager, the first Hispanic manager in the history of the Blue Jays, is particularly proud of his Puerto Rican roots and said it was a good week for his country after his compatriot Alex Cora won the World Series on Monday night.

He describes himself as an honest and positive manager who communicates a lot, respects his players and recognizes that he does not have all the answers. Instead, he seeks out useful information from a variety of resources, including the front office, his coaches, and his players. The badytics can also help provide these answers, although Montoyo insisted that his decision would be a mixture of "old school" instinct and badysis.

In the immediate future, Montoyo is eager to recruit a staff of coaches sharing his intention to train young players. He also plans to start contacting current players on Tuesday.

"I look forward to that," he said. "All I have done in my life is to teach and help young players improve. It's going to be awesome. "

One of these young people will be the number one candidate, Vlad Guerrero Jr. Montoyo knows the Guerrero family well after playing with Vlad Guerrero Sr. in the minor leagues.

Although Montoyo did not see young Guerrero play in person, he is eager to find the family.

"It will be very fun for me to manage his child and I'm sure Vlad will tell me about his child," said Montoyo. "I can not wait to see Vlad and hug him and I'm sure he'll be happy that I'm his son's manager."

Managing Director Ross Atkins, who attended the press conference with President and CEO Mark Shapiro, said he was "delighted" to have Montoyo by his side, emphasizing his openness of spirit and his lack of ego as admired strengths.

"It's not about being right, but about doing things right and it's become perfectly clear," Atkins said.

Now that a manager is in place, Atkins will move on to the next off-season job: improving pitching in the ranks of the Jays.

"I think the pitch, how we can get more, is definitely at the top of our list. "

Laura Armstrong is a sports journalist based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @lauraarmy