Roger Christian Hansen (born August 28, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and a former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

coach. Hansen primarily played

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

during his playing career, but also played first base and

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

on occasion. Before his current assignment with the Mariners, he was a catching consultant in their organization. Over his playing career, Hansen played for the rookie-level GCL Royals (1980), the Class-A Charleston Royals (1981–1982), the Class-A Fort Myers Royals (1983), the Double-A Jacksonville Suns (1983), the Double-A Memphis Chicks (1984–1985), the Triple-A Omaha Royals (1985–1986), the Double-A

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

(1987), the Double-A Vermont Mariners (1988), the Double-A Williamsport Bills and the Triple-A Calgary Cannons (1988, 1989). Hansen has never played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Professional career

Playing career

Hansen was drafted by the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

in the second round of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft out of Rio Mesa High School in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California, United States. On California's Central Coast (California), Central Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the List of largest California cities by populati ...

. He began his professional career with the rookie-level GCL Royals. In 55 games, Hansen batted .228 with 38 hit, three doubles and two triples. In 1981, Hansen was promoted to the Class-A Charleston Royals where he batted .242 with 125 hits, 28 doubles, six triples and six

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

in 141

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

. During the next season, 1982, Hansen continued playing with the Charleston Royals. He batted .282 with 78 runs, 148 hits, 34 doubles, 15 home runs and 94

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs) in 137 games played that season. He was second in the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

in doubles that year. Hansen's 1983 season was split between the Class-A Fort Myers Royals and the Double-A Jacksonville Suns. With Fort Myers, he batted .282 with 51 runs, 109 hits, 13 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 62 RBIs in 107 games. In one game with the Suns, Hansen got one hit in four at-bats. Hansen spent his 1984 season at the Double-A level with the Memphis Chicks of the Southern League. In 93 games, Hansen batted .217 with 71 hits, 10 doubles and three home runs. He continued playing with the Memphis Chicks in 1985, but received a promotion to the Triple-A Omaha Royals late in the season. Hansen batted .324 with 68 hits, 10 doubles and two home runs in 66 games between the two teams. In 1986, Hansen spent the entire season with the Omaha Royals. He batted .253 with 49 hits, five doubles and four home runs in 73 games. Before the 1987 season, Hansen joined the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

organization and was assigned to the Double-A

for the season. In 98 games, Hansen batted .281 with 94 hits, 12 doubles, one triple and five home runs. During the 1988 season, Hansen played at the Double-A and Triple-A level. First, with the Double-A Vermont Mariners, Hansen batted .301 with 31 hits, two doubles, one triple and one home run in 34 games. With the Triple-A Calgary Cannons, he batted .250 with 39 hits, six doubles and two home runs in 51 games. During that season, Hansen's friend, Kurt Stillwell, compared Hansen to Crash Davis from the movie '' Bull Durham''. Hansen spent his final season as a player in 1989 with the Double-A Williamsport Bills and the Triple-A Calgary Cannons. In 122 combined games between the two teams, he batted .205 with 25 hits and five doubles.

Coaching career

In 1992, Hansen joined the Seattle Mariners as a bullpen coach. The Mariners' team

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

was 4.55 that season and the team went 64–98 positioning them seventh in the

American League West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams cu ...

. Hansen was fired at the end of the season along with the rest of the Mariners' coaching staff. In 1996, Hansen was hired as the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of the Class-A Short Season

Everett AquaSox The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington. The team is a member of the Northwest League and is the High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seatin ...

in the Mariners' organization. Hansen was hired as a roving catching instructor for the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

in Japan's

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

. He re-joined the Mariners' organization in 2002 as a coach with the Everett AquaSox. Hansen managed the AquaSox for the last 28 games of the 2002 season. In 2003, he was named the Mariners' minor-league catching coordinator. On August 10, 2010, the Mariners fired members of their coaching staff, including bench coach Ty Van Burkleo, and Hansen was hired to take over that position on an interim basis.

Personal

Hansen was born on August 28, 1961, in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

. He resides in

Stanwood, Washington Stanwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The city is located north of Seattle, at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River near Camano Island. As of the 2020 United States ...

with his wife Lynn and their two children.

Footnotes

* All team's listed under "as player" and "as manager" are

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

teams.

References

;General references # ;Inline citations

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Roger 1961 births Living people American expatriate baseball people in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania Baseball players from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Calgary Cannons players Charleston Royals players Chattanooga Lookouts players Fort Myers Royals players Gulf Coast Royals players Jacksonville Suns players Memphis Chicks players Minor league baseball managers Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Omaha Royals players Orix BlueWave People from Stanwood, Washington Baseball players from Snohomish County, Washington Seattle Mariners coaches Seattle Mariners scouts Vermont Mariners players Williamsport Bills players Rio Mesa High School alumni Baseball players from Oxnard, California