Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo speaks during an introductory media conference at the Rogers Centre, in Toronto, on Oct. 29, 2018.Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Charlie Montoyo thought he was having a quick meeting over dinner with his prospective bosses at the Toronto Blue Jays.
But the slow service at a downtown Toronto eatery last Tuesday made one hour drag into another with team president and chief executive Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins. And what is normally an exasperating situation instead left Montoyo grinning from ear to ear.
Two days later, the Blue Jays named Montoyo the 13th manager in the team’s history. He credits that drawn-out dinner engagement for helping to lay the groundwork.
“You know what, it was supposed to be an hour-long dinner,” he said at a Monday news conference. “It took forever because the waiter took forever, so that worked out for me. I can’t wait to see that waiter so I can thank him a little more.
“It was awesome because I got to know these guys.”
Obviously, Shapiro and Atkins thought the same. The Blue Jays officially introduced the 53-year-old native of Florida, Puerto Rico, as the new Toronto manager on Monday at Rogers Centre.
“That little town of 12,000 is jumping around in happiness,” Montoyo said. He signed a three-year deal to manage the Jays through the 2021 season with a club option for 2022.
Montoyo replaces John Gibbons, who was fired following a demoralizing 2018 campaign in which Toronto finished well off the pace in the American League East with a 73-89 record.
After spending 18 years learning his craft in the minor leagues, Montoyo got his big break four years ago when he joined Kevin Cash’s coaching staff at the Tampa Bay Rays. Last season, he was the Rays' bench coach.
One of the many congratulatory calls he received after word spread about the Toronto job was from Soot Zimmer, the wife of legendary former player and coach Don Zimmer. Montoyo said he has long held a deep appreciation for her husband,, who died in 2014.
“She said, ‘Don Zimmer’s in heaven, he would be so proud of you right now because you did it the right way. You coached in the minor leagues, and now you’re managing in the big leagues,’” is how Montoyo related the conversation.
The search for a new manager, led by Atkins, took about a month and involved dozens of candidates before the list was whittled down to about five finalists.
Two of those finalists were David Bell, the San Francisco Giants' farm director who instead took the managerial opening in Cincinnati, and Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada. “We had a lot of good alternatives, we really did,” Atkins said.
Atkins said he first heard of Montoyo in 2007 when Atkins was the farm director for Cleveland and Montoyo was just starting out as the manager of the Triple-A Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay’s top minor-league affiliate.
All the Bulls did under Montoyo was win. He left the team after an eight-year ride as the winningest coach in franchise history (633-551).
That stuck in Atkins’s mind, as did a recent conversation he had with a player whom Montoyo used to manage.
“I want to get to the field every day to see him,” Atkins said the player told him. “That is leadership in baseball. And we could not be more proud and more honoured to have added that leadership to our culture and our environment.”
Montoyo arrives in Toronto with an appreciation for using data analytics to inform decision-making, such as when to employ the defensive shift on certain batters.
Last season in Tampa, the Rays made headlines as they often started relievers on the mound in the first inning – known as “openers” – and were also very aggressive with infield defensive shifts.
“I think I’m a blend of old school and analytics,” he said. “I think using both, I think that makes you a better manager.”
Montoyo was asked what he might have in store for baseball’s top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who will likely crack the Toronto lineup sometime next season.
“To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen him play,” he said.
As for the spectre of loads of losses for a team that embarked on a rebuild over the course of last season, Montoyo wasn’t buying into any of that.
“I don’t think that way," he said. “We’re going to play to win from the beginning.”