Goins 'very appreciative' after getting chance to fill in as Halos' manager

SEATTLE -- With interim manager Ray Montgomery away from the team for two games to attend his father-in-law’s funeral, bench coach Ryan Goins got the opportunity to serve as acting manager for the Angels on Saturday and Sunday.

The results didn’t go the way the beat-up Angels wanted with a 5-3 loss on Saturday and an 11-2 defeat in the series finale at T-Mobile Park, but Goins was grateful for the opportunity and said his goal is to be a big league manager someday. Goins, 37, is in his second year as a coach for the Angels after an eight-year playing career with the Blue Jays, Royals and White Sox from 2013-20.

“It's a goal of mine,” Goins said. “Kinda like when I played, I wanted to get to the big leagues and as a coach, whatever path that takes me. Obviously with this year the things that have happened, getting me into the role that I was in, I’m very appreciative. And hopefully … keep taking steps and do the right things until I get to this spot.”

Goins was originally hired as the club’s infield coach before the ’24 season and entered this year in the same role. But when manager Ron Washington was placed on season-long medical leave on June 27, Montgomery was shifted from bench coach to interim manager and Goins was moved into a new role as bench coach.

Goins is well respected by the club’s players, especially the infielders that he’s worked with closely over the last two seasons. He’s easy to relate to, because he recently played in the Majors and has a strong work ethic that Washington often praised.

Washington became close with Goins when Goins was a part of Atlanta’s organization in 2021 and ’22, playing at Triple-A Gwinnett those two years while Washington was the Braves’ third-base coach. Those were the final two years of Goins’ playing career; he signed a Minor League deal with the Royals in ’23 but didn’t see any action that year and officially retired in ’24.

Goins admitted he was nervous heading into Saturday’s game, but said his nerves started to subside once he was in the flow of the game. He shared the debut with shortstop Denzer Guzman -- the Angels' No. 9 prospect per MLB Pipeline -- who was called up to make his MLB debut on Saturday and picked up his first career hit with a single in the fifth inning on Sunday. So while Goins would’ve liked to see different results, he still enjoyed his first full games as manager after previously being thrust into the role twice when Montgomery was thrown out of games on July 7 and July 23

“It was awesome,” Goins said. “When I quit playing, I wanted to coach. So getting that opportunity, when we started this year, I never would’ve thought I’d manage a game. But it was fun.”

Goins was hardly given a full deck to work with. The Angels are dealing with a plethora of injuries, including shortstop Zach Neto out with wrist soreness and catchers Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud both out with concussions. Third baseman Yoán Moncada also left Sunday’s game with left ankle soreness, adding to the club’s injury woes.

Goins also didn’t get much help from his starting pitchers, as lefty Mitch Farris gave up five runs over four innings in his third career start on Saturday and veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks was tagged for nine runs on 10 hits and two walks over 3 1/3 innings on Sunday.

Hendricks was frustrated with his inability to execute his pitches and snapped a streak of three straight quality starts but was happy for Goins and Guzman to get some experience over the weekend. Montgomery will be back for Tuesday’s series opener in Milwaukee, and O’Hoppe is also expected to be activated from the 7-day IL.

“Really cool to see him,” Hendricks said. “It seemed very simple. He fit right in. No problems for him. And on top of that, too, seeing Denzer with his first big league knock and getting two of them there today. It's always really cool to see that. Just being that young and really held his own and performed so well so far these two days. So still a lot of positives and after 17 a row, we get this off-day to reset and get back to it on Tuesday.”