Bench coach Mark Kotsay will be away from the team indefinitely while his daughter, Sienna, receives treatment for an eye injury, A’s general manager David Forst announced Monday.
Sienna, 11, was accidentally hit in the right eye at close range by a tennis ball earlier this month, incurring a partial loss of vision. Forst said that Kotsay will remain with his family as they meet with specialists and throughout the recovery process.
“He is hopeful of returning at some point this season,” Forst said, emphasizing that Kotsay has the team’s full support.
Chip Hale, who was manager Bob Melvin’s bench coach from 2012-14 before becoming Arizona’s manager, will move from the third-base coaching spot to the bench role while Kotsay is away and minor-league instructor Steve Scarsone, a longtime manager in Oakland’s system including the Pacific Coast League manager of the year at Triple-A Nashville last year, will handle the third-base job.