Mets Manager Candidate: Matt Quatraro

Current Position: Tampa Bay Rays Bench Coach

Age: 48

Managerial Experience: No MLB experience, four seasons in low Tampa Bay minors

Matt Quatraro is a New York native, hemming from East Selkirk, New York a hamlet outside of Albany. Born in 1973, he was a right-handed first baseman/catcher at Old Dominion University from 1993-1996.

Quatraro had an illustrious career at ODU finishing his career with a batting average over .400 and being named to the Colonial Athletic Association’s first-team as a catcher in his junior and senior seasons. He was an All-American his senior season. The Tampa Bay Rays rewarded Quatraro by selecting him in the eighth round of the 1996 draft.

Quatraro never made the major leagues, ultimately topping out at Triple-A. He’d spend all but one year with the Rays organization. He returned to them after retiring in 2004 starting as the hitting coach of the Hudson Valley Renegades. He’d manage the Penn League team in 2006 and 2007. Quatraro was also the manager of the Class A Columbus Catfish in 2008 and Bowling Green Hot Rods in 2009.

He’d earn a large promotion in 2010 becoming the Rays minor league hitting coordinator, staying in that role until 2013. Quatraro left the Rays for Cleveland to become the Guardians’ assistant hitting coach for 2014. He’d end up back in Tampa in the 2017 season when the Rays hired him as their third base coach and move to the bench coach role in 2018 when Charlie Montoyo left to manage the Blue Jays. Nationals manager Dave Martinez was also a Nationals bench coach.

Currently, six major league managers have ties to the Rays organization. Joe Maddon is a former manager, Gabe Kapler was a player and scout, Derek Shelton is their former hitting coach and Rocco Baldelli is a former player and coach.

Quatraro has been thought of as a potential manager for a few seasons. He interviewed with the Pirates and Giants for their managerial opening during the 2019-20 offseason and the Tigers last winter. He has nearly two decades of coaching experience.

The Oakland A’s have already interviewed Quatraro as they search for a new manager as well. Tampa Bay has already given the Mets permission to interview Quatraro which is expected to happen this week.

Recommendation

Why not? A candidate that has been seen in major league circles for a few years is never a bad thing. He lacks the major league experience the Mets want but he’s managed the minors and been second-in-command for the best team in the American League not named the Astros for the last four seasons. In that aspect, he’s very similar to another candidate in Joe Espada.

No team is able to get players to fill specific roles as the Rays can. If Quatraro can bring that mindset to Queens then the Mets should be all over him.