It looks like Mets new manager Carlos Beltran is very close to getting his bench coach, as SNY's Andy Martino reports Fredi Gonzalez out of the running.
Martino also reported last week that Hensley Meulens has become a "strong frontrunner" for the job, with Joey Cora his only competition now.
So who exactly is Meulens? You may be familiar with his coaching of the Giants for the past nine seasons -- the last two as bench coach and the previous seven as the hitting coach. But Meulens' baseball resume goes further back to his playing days in MLB.
As the Mets look to make their final decision on who their next bench coach will be, here's what else you about their frontrunner...
How Meulens earned his "Bam Bam" nickname
Growing up in Curacao, it was apparent that Meulens had a knack for the game of baseball, especially at the plate. He had tremendous power and his friends used to refer to him as "Bam Bam," the young Flintstones character that also shared that character trait.
That nickname followed Meulens to the league as well, and he's still called it to this day.
Meulens was a Yankees prospect
Meulens' days as a professional baseball player began with the Yankees taking him out of Curacao as an undrafted free agent in 1985. He eventually made his debut in 1991, playing eight games while hitting 5-for-28 in his first taste of MLB.
He would play parts of five seasons with the Yankees, owning a career .221/.290/.344 slashline with 12 homers and 46 RBI over 159 games. Meulens didn't plan out in New York, but his next gig worked out pretty well...
Playing in Japan
The Yankees would go on to sell Meulens' contract to the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball league -- Japan's top league. He made a good first impression by hitting 23 homers in the 1994 season. But he would sign with the Yakult Swallows in 1995, where he would win a Japan Series Championship.
Meulens played one more season in Japan before returning to the States.
Meulens' International Resume
Meulens represented the Netherlands as both a player and coach. He played for the 2000 Summer Olympics squad, and was a coach in the '04 Olympics and the '09 World Baseball Classic. Meulens was eventually named the manager of the 2013 Netherlands WBC team as well.
Yankees had him in for manager interview
When the Yankees were searching for a new manager in 2017, Meulens was on their candidate list. He already had three World Series rings, helping the Giants players in the batter's box as the team's batting coach. Eventually Aaron Boone was chosen, but it shows the respect Meulens garners in the league as one of the six candidates interviewed for the job. Beltran was also a candidate in that manager search.
The Beltran Connection
The Mets traded Beltran to the Giants in 2011 at the trade deadline, and he saw an uptick in his offensive production with Meulens helping in his second year as the team's batting coach. He slashed .323/.369/.551 with seven homers, nine doubles, four triples, 18 RBI over 44 games.