SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REP. — Aguilas Cibaeñas General Manager Angel Ovalles confirmed on Monday former Major League catcher Yadier Molina as his new manager, replacing Manny García, for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season in the Dominican Baseball League.
Angel Ovalles also reported that Puerto Rican Molina will also be joined as his assistant by former Aguilucho player Rafael Furcal.
In that order, Edgardo Rivera will be the hitting coach; Kleininger Terán will serve as third base coach and Carlos Adrián Texidor will be in charge of the infield. Likewise, Miguel Tejada and Melky Cabrera will continue on the staff in their mentoring roles.
Molina will join the yellow team starting this Monday in the rescheduled match against the Estrellas Orientales.
The renowned former player from Bayamón comes from managing the Puerto Rican national team in the last World Baseball Classic and accumulates experience as a manager with the Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and Criollos de Caguas in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League.
The Aguilucho team and its board also thanked coach García for his dedication and commitment during the period in which he served as foreman, where he left a record of 2 wins and 7 losses. They also wished García success in future projects.
Molina is a veteran former Major League player who played for 19 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, winning two World Series and nine Gold Glove Awards, four Platinum Gloves and a Silver Slugger, in addition to being selected 10 times for the All-Star Game. He finished his career with 176 home runs, 1,022 RBIs and a .277 batting average.
The renowned Puerto Rican masked player also played 2,224 games behind the plate, the most by a catcher for a team in the history of the majors.
