Chris Newell begins his second stint at Oakland as the Director of Program Development, acting as bench coach, while working with the hitters and infielders for the 2026 season, after serving as an assistant coach from 2002 to 2005.
Before Oakland, Newell played two years of professional baseball in 1997. He also served as a scout for the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees. In 1999, Newell opened The Player’s Edge, in which he specializes in hitting and pitching instruction. Through his tutelage, he has seen over 260 players move onto play in college as well as 59 players who have moved on to play professional baseball. Two of his marquee players are DJ LeMahieu, who is a three time MLB All-Star and a two time MLB Batting Champion and Jake Cronenworth, who is a two time MLB All-Star.
In 2016, Newell became the first ever manager named to the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL), where he spent four years at the helm. In his first three seasons, his Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers team finished with the best record along with winning back to back championships in 2017 and 2018. Newell is a three-time Manager of the Year, and also had the most players during that time move on to Major League Baseball organizations. In 2020 he was hired by the New York Mets to manage their rookie affiliate, the Kingsport Mets, prior to the season being canceled due to the pandemic.
Newell spent the 2021 season with the AA affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies as the bench coach, assistant hitting coach, infield coach and third Base Coach. In 2022 he was named the bench coach, assistant hitting coach, outfield coach and 1st Base Coach for High A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, where they won the Northern Division. On June 21, 2022, he made his Major League debut with the New York Mets coaching staff. In 2023, Newell was named manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones where he was also in charge of the infielders and helped develop the organization's minor league Gold Glove winner, William Lugo as 2023 ended with the Cyclones sharing the division championship.
Prior to coaching, he played his college ball at Northwest Missouri State University, where he led the Bearcats in hitting in 1995 with a .346 batting average and won the Best Defensive Player in the conference.
