Hentgen steps aside as full-time bullpen coach
Former Blue Jays pitcher tending to family issues, will remain in organization
TORONTO -- Blue Jays bullpen coach Pat Hentgen has been re-assigned within the organization to allow him the time needed to support his family and his father's health issues.
Hentgen's father is dealing with a serious health condition and the personal decision has been made to step aside. Hentgen will remain within the organization, but will no longer assume full-time duties so that he can help his father through this difficult time.
Triple-A pitching coach Bob Stanley will take over for Hentgen in the bullpen. Stanley was the pitching coach for Triple-A Las Vegas in 2012 and served in the same role with Triple-A Buffalo last season. He's a former first-round Draft pick of the Red Sox in 1974 and played all 13 seasons of his career with Boston, holding the club mark for appearances at 637.
Hentgen was the bullpen coach under manager John Farrell in 2011, but stepped aside at the end of the season. Hentgen was brought back into the fold by John Gibbons prior to the 2013 campaign and oversaw one of the league's most reliable bullpens.
Toronto's relievers ranked second in the American League with 552 2/3 innings in 2013. The group finished fourth with a 3.37 ERA, third in strikeouts with 510 and fourth with a .235 opponents' batting average.
The 45-year-old Hentgen spent 10 of his 14 Major League seasons with the Blue Jays. He won an American League Cy Young Award in 1996 and finished his career with a 131-112 record and a 4.32 ERA in 2,075 1/3 innings.
Stanley joins a staff that also includes pitching coach Pete Walker, first-base coach Tim Leiper, third-base coach Luis Rivera, bench coach DeMarlo Hale and hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.