Acta hires staff of veteran coaches

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What Manny Acta lacks in managerial experience he definitely added to his coaching staff.

The new Washington Nationals manager, at 37 the youngest in major league baseball, yesterday announced the hiring of a staff of coaches, each of whom has decades of big league experience.

Pitching coach Randy St. Claire, a holdover from last season, now is the only member of the staff under 50.

"They're very qualified," Acta said.

Indeed. Acta hired 65-year-old Pat Corrales, a longtime member of the Atlanta Braves' staff, as his bench coach. He retained Mitchell Page, 55, from the staff of former Nationals manager Frank Robinson to serve as the hitting coach. Acta also hired Tim Tolman, 50, as the third-base coach, Jerry Morales, 57, as the first-base coach, and Rick Aponte, 50, as the bullpen coach.

"It's very important to have experience. With experience comes wisdom," general manager Jim Bowden said.

That wisdom starts with Corrales. Corrales joins Acta's staff this season in what will be his 42nd season in the major leagues. Corrales spent the previous 17 seasons on Bobby Cox's Braves staff, the last eight as bench coach.

Corrales helped Cox win 14 consecutive National League East titles and, in 1995, a World Series championship. Only Cox has managed or coached longer in the competitive NL East than Corrales. Nationals president Stan Kasten certainly is familiar with Corrales. Kasten was the Braves' president from 1987 to 2003.

"I'm a huge fan of Pat Corrales," Kasten said. "He was Bobby Cox's right-hand guy all those years and all those championships."

Corrales also brings to the Nationals nine seasons of big league managerial experience with the Texas Rangers (1978-80), Philadelphia Phillies (1982-83) and Cleveland Browns (1983-87).