The Detroit Tigers have named Ron Gardenhire as the next manager at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
Gardenhire, 69, signed a three-year contract with the Tigers and its his first managerial job since 2014 when he was with the Minnesota Twins.
"After an intense search, long process, we have hired to be our manager, Ron Gardenhire today," General Manger Al Avila said at a press conference. "We interviewed many high quality candidates."
Most recently, Gardenhire was a bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"this is a new start for me. I believe that I could run a baseball team," Gardenhire said. "I've always felt that, I've always felt comfortable running teams."
He spent 14 seasons with the Twins, leading them to five seasons with 90+ wins. His all-time record was 1,068-1,039 for a .507 winning percentage.
Gardenhire becomes the 38th manager in franchise history and replaces Brad Ausmus whose contract was not renewed after four years with the team.
Ausmus led the Tigers to a 90-72 first season in 2014 but the team finished with the worst record in Major League Baseball this season.
"This franchise has begin a significant transformation over the last few months and bringing Gardy (Gardenhire) on board is an important step toward competing and winning World Series championships," Chris Ilitch said.
Gardenhire said he looks forward to the challenges that he has coming up in Detroit, and likes the grit of things and how sometimes you have to start over.
He also said they haven't made determinations about his coaching staff yet, but he will work with Avila to make those choices.
"This is about teaching and we're going to have some young players with some veterans and we're going to need a very good staff," Gardenhire added.
