A’s bring back former player as new bench coach

Ryan Christenson played parts of four seasons with the Oakland A’s and now returns as their bench coach under manager Bob Melvin. (Allsport file)Ryan Christenson, a former A’s player who has been a manager in their system for the last five seasons, has been named manager Bob Melvin’s new bench coach, the team announced Thursday.

The 43-year-old Christenson, seen as a potential big league manager one day by many, replaces Chip Hale on the A’s bench as Hale will return to his third base coaching duties. Hale had replaced Mark Kotsay as bench coach last June when Kotsay left the team because of an eye injury suffered by his 11-year-old daughter. Kotsay has decided to remain with his family in…