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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. 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 ca ...

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 The Fort Myers Royals were a minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals from 1978 to 1987. In 1978 the Royals were brought to Fort Myers, Florida by the Kansas City franchise. This was because Fort Myers served as the spring training home ...

(1983), the Double-A

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

(1983), the Double-A Memphis Chicks (1984–1985), the Triple-A

Omaha Royals Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

(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 located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

(1987), the Double-A

Vermont Mariners The Vermont Mariners are a defunct minor league baseball team. They played in the Eastern League at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vermont in 1988. They were affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. History Prior to their four-year stint as the V ...

(1988), the Double-A

Williamsport Bills The Williamsport Bills were a Class AA Eastern League baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and New York Mets from 1987 to 1991 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in the United States. They played their games in Bowman Field, ...

and the Triple-A

Calgary Cannons The Calgary Cannons were a minor league baseball team located in Calgary, Alberta, for 18 seasons, from 1985 until 2002. They were a member of the AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) and played at Foothills Stadium. The Cannons displaced the Calg ...

(1988, 1989). Hansen has never played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Professional career

Playing career

Hansen was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the

1980 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft. Compensation Picks Other notable players * Tim Teufel, 2nd round, 38th overall Minnesota Twins *Dan Plesac, 2nd round, 41st overall ...

out of

Rio Mesa High School Rio Mesa High School (RMHS) is a high school in Ventura County, California. Located northeast of Oxnard, the school is surrounded by strawberry fields and other crops growing on the Oxnard Plain. The school is part of the Oxnard Union High Scho ...

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

. He began his professional career with the rookie-level GCL Royals. In 55 games, Hansen batted .228 with 38

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, 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 141 games played. 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 (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the ba ...

(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 ...

in doubles that year. Hansen's 1983 season was split between the Class-A

and the Double-A

. 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

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. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

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

, Hansen batted .301 with 31 hits, two doubles, one triple and one home run in 34 games. With the Triple-A

, he batted .250 with 39 hits, six doubles and two home runs in 51 games. During that season, Hansen's friend,

Kurt Stillwell Kurt Andrew Stillwell (born June 4, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) infielder. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, California Angels and Texas Rangers from 1986 to 1993 and in 1996. ...

, compared Hansen to Crash Davis from the movie ''

Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...

''. Hansen spent his final season as a player in 1989 with the Double-A

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 In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

. 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 curr ...

. 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 an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

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 affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seating capacity ...

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 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 annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

. He re-joined the Mariners' organization in 2002 as a

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 a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, whi ...

. He resides in

Stanwood, Washington Stanwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is located north of Seattle, at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River near Camano Island. As of the 2010 census, its population is 6,231. Stanwood was founded in 186 ...

with his wife Lynn and their two children.

Footnotes

* All team's listed under "as player" and "as manager" are minor league baseball 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 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 Sportspeople from Snohomish County, Washington Seattle Mariners coaches Seattle Mariners scouts Sportspeople from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Vermont Mariners players Williamsport Bills players Rio Mesa High School alumni Baseball players from Oxnard, California