On Friday evening, LA Angels general manager Perry Minasian announced that manager Ron Washington would remain on medical leave and miss the remainder of the season as he battles health issues.
The news comes less than a week after Washington was first placed on indefinite medical leave after a four-game series against the Yankees in New York.
Sending our best to Angels manager, Ron Washington.
— First and Pen (@firstandpen) June 21, 2025
Washington is stepping down from his managerial duties indefinitely due to health issues. Get better soon coach. ????????⚾️ pic.twitter.com/xKdKxXOngD
The much-beloved manager is in his second year with the team, and after losing 99 games last season, had turned the team around and had it heading in the right direction before his health issues surfaced.
It was news that hit the team hard.
“We want him here,” said Angels outfielder Mike Trout. “But we want him to get better.”
Washington, 73, has spent almost five decades in MLB.
He had a 10-year career as a player with the Dodgers, Twins, Orioles, Cleveland and Houston. After finishing his playing career in 1989, he transitioned to coaching, first with the then-Oakland Athletics for ten years. Then he headed to the Texas Rangers as the team’s manager, leading the team to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
After resigning from the Rangers, he headed back to Oakland before moving to Atlanta as a coach, and won a World Series with the team.
In 2023, the Angels hired him as their manager, and he had been building the team up until the recent health issues forced him to step down.
“He’s the main reason why everything has been the way it has been around here this year so far,” said catcher Logan O’Hoppe. “It’s nothing that we’re not going to keep replicating. We’re going to take the lessons he’s given us and keep applying it.”
Fortunately, Washington is in good spirits, according to Minasian.
“We’re going to take it day by day, and we’re going to do whatever he feels is the right thing to do,” Minasian said. “I’m not going to project going forward. Obviously, you’d love to have him around as much as you can. That’s a no-brainer. But with that being said, we’re going to do whatever’s best for him.”
“Hearing great news that he’s doing better, that whatever he has, they got it quick … we’re just grateful for that. Of course we want him here, we want him here managing us and all that, but health comes before everything else,” said shortstop Zach Neto.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery will serve as interim manager for the Angels.
