Since Clayton McCullough was promoted to Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach prior to the 2021 season, he’s interviewed with multiple teams for their respective managerial vacancies.
McCullough had been a Minor League field coordinator for the Dodgers before earning a spot on Dave Roberts’ coaching staff. He filled a void that was created when George Lombard became the Detroit Tigers bench coach.
After the 2021 season, the New York Mets reportedly interviewed McCullough during their search for a new manager. That ultimately was filled by Buck Showalter, and although the Mets had interest in McCullough for his coaching staff, that was not reciprocated.
More recently, the 42-year-old interviewed with the Kansas City Royals. According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, McCullough is among the finalists for the open Royals manager position:
Sources: #Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough has interviewed with the #Royals for their managerial vacancy and is among the finalists there. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 26, 2022
The Royals’ reported interest in McCullough comes after announcing Mike Matheny would not return in 2023. He was hired as manager in October 2019 but has overseen three consecutive losing seasons. In addition to Matheny, longtime Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore was recently fired as well.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said during an end-of-season press conference he anticipated the Dodgers coaching staff remaining intact for 2023. Though, that was more from the lens of the organization not taking their own steps toward change.
Clayton McCullough’s managerial history
Two years after retiring, McCullough was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2007 to serve as manager of their Rookie-level affiliate in the Gulf Coast League.
McCullough went on to be the skipper for Class-A Lansing (2008-09), High-A Dunedin (2010-11) and Low-A Vancouver (2012-13), going 629-559 as manager over parts of seven Minor League seasons. McCullough become an instructional coordinator before departing the Blue Jays organization in January 2015.
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