Four seasons after he left the organization, former manager Bob Melvin is returning to the Athletics in a new capacity.
The A’s announced Thursday the hiring of Melvin as a special assistant to baseball operations.
Melvin spent 11 seasons as the A’s manager from 2011 through 2021 in Oakland. He was initially hired midway through the 2011 season as interim manager after the team fired Bob Geren.
Leading the A’s, Melvin engineered a swift turnaround in a magical 2012 season in which Oakland clinched the AL West division title with a win in the final game of the season. The A’s finished 2012 with a 94-68 record — a 20-game turnaround that earned Melvin AL Manager of the Year.
He went on to win the award a second time in 2018 and led the team to five more postseason appearances. Melvin finished with an 853-764 record by the time he left the team.
Melvin’s tenure in Oakland ended when he was hired by the San Diego Padres after the 2021 season. He was succeeded by current manager Mark Kotsay. The A’s have not had a winning season since.
Melvin spent just two seasons in San Diego, leading them to the NL Championship Series in 2022.
Melvin returned to the Bay Area when he accepted the open manager position with the San Francisco Giants ahead of the 2024 season. He went 161-163 with no postseason appearances in two seasons in San Francisco before he was fired in Sept. 2025.
He now returns to a front office role for the first time since 2011, when he served as a special baseball adviser for the Arizona Diamondbacks just before he took over as interim manager for the A’s that season.
Melvin previously held front office roles with the New York Mets as a scout in 2010 and with the Milwaukee Brewers from 1996 to 1998.