The defending Florida State League champions, the St. Lucie Mets, announced their coaching staff for the upcoming 2023 season. They will have a new leader at the helm as Gilbert Gomez goes from being the bench coach a year ago to being the 21st manager in franchise history.
Here is what the rest of the coaching staff is for the upcoming season:
- Gilbert Gomez, Manager
- Yucarybert De La Cruz, Bench Coach
- Dan McKinney, Pitching Coach
- Eduardo Nunez, Hitting Coach
- Anthony Olivieri, Head Athletic Trainer
- Jake Allen, Performance Coach
- Regan Saulnier, Development Coach
Gomez has been in the Mets organization for the last five years. The former Mets minor league outfielder was the bench coach in the FCL (Florida Complex League) back in 2021. He takes over for Robbie Robinson, who will be a coach in the San Francisco Giants organization this upcoming season.
De La Cruz makes the move up to bench coach as he begins his seventh year with the Mets organization. Over the last five seasons, he has been the manager of the DSL Mets2 team for the last four seasons (combined record of 118-137). Like Gomez, De La Cruz was a player in the Mets organization (2009-2013).
Since Gomez and De La Cruz have been teammates before, this coaching staff should have a lot of continuity, which is always good for player development and like-minded coaching philosophies:
Nunez makes the move up to St. Lucie after being the hitting instructor for the FCL Mets in 2022. He was on De La Cruz’s staff as the hitting coach back in 2021. Last year, the FCL Mets were second in the league in home runs (39) trailing only the Yankees (59).
This will be McKinney’s inaugural season in the Mets organization. Last season, he was the pitching coach at Southeast Missouri State University. In his only season with the RedHawks, the team led the Ohio Valley in strikeouts (505). Before coming to Southeast Missouri State, McKinney spent time in the MAC as the pitching coach for Akron (2019-2020) and as the assistant pitching coach at Miami (Ohio) in 2018.
Olivieri will be at St. Lucie for the first time after being the assistant athletic trainer at Triple-A Syracuse a year ago. Oliveri has been all over the Mets organization as he has worked as the trainer at five different Mets affiliates in his career.
Saulnier will be in her first year in the Mets organization and is the second female coach in the history of the organization. Last year, Gretchen Aucoin was a development coach for the FCL Mets. Saulnier was with the Angels last year as the team’s game planning strategist. Before that, she was a minor league video technology intern for the Reds (2021) and Twins (2019-20).
The St. Lucie Mets begin their season on Friday, April 7 when they host the Daytona Tortugas at Clover Park (6:10 p.m ET). There should be some strong talent in St. Lucie this year.
