New Sheriff In Town

This offseason, the Giants assigned the Richmond Flying Squirrels their fourth manager in franchise history, 42-year-old Venezuelan Jose Alguacil. The man affectionately known as "Auggie", Alguacil was preceded by Russ Morman, Dave Machemer, and Andy Skeels as the man in charge. 

 "I'm excited to be here," Alguacil said. "I'm here for these guys. I'm here, hopefully, to be a bridge for these guys to get to their goals, and there's a lot of work to be done."

Prior to being hired as manager, Alguacil visited Richmond as a roving infield instructor in the Giants organization. Last season, during San Francisco's third World Series run in five years, he spent the majority of his time with the big league club, but visited the River City on occasion. Auggie is joined by a new pitching coach in long-time MLB reliever Steve Kline, who was in Low-A Augusta last year, and by Ken Joyce, who returns to Richmond for his fifth season as hitting coach. 

 "I've been working with these guys about a month," explained Alguacil. "Kenny Joyce does a great job with the hitters and Kline has a great relationship with our pitchers."

The new manager's baseball roots are with the Giants, as they signed Alguacil as an 18-year-old out of Caracas, Venezuela. In Caracas, Alguacil grew up and is still good friends with likely Hall-Of-Famer and former Cleveland Indian Omar Vizquel. Like many Venezuelan boys, Auggie looked up to the legendary Luis Aparicio. 

 "Those are the guys I looked up to," explained Alguacil. "I hoped to be like those guys, and while I wasn't, I learned a great deal from them."

Alguacil, with his trademark smile, spoke after batting practice last week about the gravity of baseball in Venezuela. He talked about how it was the number one sport in the country, and that it was hard to truly explain the atmosphere unless you experienced it. 

"It's a different style of baseball," said the new skipper. "You feel like the fans are a part of your staff, they live the game," he continued. "Even though the country is going through a lot of political problems, baseball is a time to sit down for three or four hours and put those problems to the side."

Typically a middle infielder, Alguacil played at least one game at every position, except for catcher. At 20 years of age, he made his debut with the Arizona League Giants in 1993. His playing career spanned across nine seasons with six of those in the San Francisco organization. 

In 1998, after reaching Double-A Shreveport with the Giants and being released, Alguacil signed to play Independent Baseball with the upstart Western League Sonoma County Crushers. He then caught on with the Canton Crocodiles of the Frontier League in 1999. In 2000, he worked his way back to affiliated baseball, signing a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox and reaching Triple-A Charlotte for three games. Alguacil played his final season with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League before hanging up his cleats as a player.

In 2002, he began his coaching career with the Montreal Expos and earned his first managerial job in 2004 with the Vermont Lake Monsters, the then Short Season affiliate of the Expos. Auggie also returned in 2006 to manage the Lake Monsters. It was with the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals that he met one of his best mentors: Hall-Of-Famer Frank Robinson. 

"I spent a small time with him, but he taught me a lot," Alguacil said. "He told me a lot of good stuff and it's amazing because everything that's happened in my career is what he said would happen," continued Alguacil. "I have major respect for him."

Hired by the San Francisco in 2007, Alguacil helped with the Giants infielders and was an important part of building up the franchise that's seen so much success recently. That's where Auggie met Joe Amalfitano, who he called his "dad in baseball." Alguacil also cited San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who he spent a lot of time with in spring training, as a big influence.

"It's amazing in the way that he [Bochy] communicates with his players and does things during the game," said Alguacil. "It's no luck that he's won three World Series in five years."

With a talented 2015 Richmond roster laid before him, Auggie has five of the Giants best prospects at his disposal. Top pitching prospect Kyle Crick returns for his second season at The Diamond, ranking this year as the top prospect per mlb.com and the third best prospect in the organization according to Baseball America.

 "Crick has the ability and potential to be a big league player," Alguacil said. "He has a great relationship with Pitching Coach Steve Kline," he explained. "We have a goal for every guy this year and hopefully we can reach that goal for Crick and every guy on the team." 

Mac Williamson is an intriguing offensive prospect for San Francisco and so far he's started off on the right foot in 2015 after missing most of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Williamson, usually in right field, slugged 25 home runs with Advanced-A San Jose in 2013. 

"We [Williamson and Auggie] have created a friendship through the years," said Alguacil. "He's done everything possible to get back and has tremendous tools. At some point during this season he's going to take off."

Among the other top prospects currently on the roster is outfielder Daniel Carbonell and pitchers Joan Gregorio and Chris Stratton. However, Alguacil said that no one in the Richmond clubhouse got here by accident.

"All of the guys on this team are good," said Alguacil. "You don't arrive at this level for luck. If you're here, you have a chance. If you have a uniform, you have a chance."

Coming off of their best season in franchise history under Morman, who now manages San Jose, the Squirrels appear to be in safe hands with Alguacil. With what's become a trademark of Richmond teams in strong pitching and the development of offensive prospects, the Flying Squirrels could be playing deep into September again in 2015.