4 dream Blue Jays manager candidates to replace John Schneider if he is fired

Matt Hague

How about some love for an internal candidate who's been quietly rising through the ranks over the past few years? We are talking about the Blue Jays’ current assistant hitting coach Matt Hague. He may be considered a surprising candidate to most people, but within the Jays organization, his excellence has been well-received already.

After being hired by the Jays’ organization back in 2020 to be the hitting coach for their Single-A affiliate Dunedin Blue Jays, he has since moved rapidly up the system over the past three years. Subsequently, Hague was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire in 2021 and then to Triple-A Buffalo in 2023, all in the capacity as a hitting coach. 

More importantly, Hague has played a huge part over that time in helping the development of key young prospects such as Gabriel Moreno, Otto Lopez, Spencer Horwitz, Jordan Groshans, Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Davis Schneider. They had made significant enough advancements in their growth to the point that they had raised their value and ended up being either traded to other teams, promoted to the big leagues already, or are knocking on the door to enter the majors pretty soon. Just seeing how Moreno has become the Arizona Diamondbacks everyday catcher, how Schneider exploded onto the MLB scene last year, and the drastic improvement of Martinez’s hitting highlight some of Hague’s masterpieces at their very best. Moreover, as a beloved Buffalo Bisons’ coach last season, he helped lead many of their players to impressive breakout seasons as well, with Cam Eden, Ernie Clement, Nathan Lukes and Rafael Lantigua to name a few.

This season, Hague has once again moved up one more rung, now with the Jays’ big league club for the 2024 season. Given his great work in getting the best out of his players, along with the great rapport he has built up with them, he would be an ideal internal candidate for the Jays to consider, even despite no prior managerial experience. Especially when the Jays are in desperate need of someone that can optimize the team’s overall offensive potential, Hague would fit the bill perfectly.