PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (February 16, 2023) – The St. Lucie Mets are pleased to announced their coaching staff for the 2023 season. Gilbert Gomez will become the 21st manager in club history. He will be joined on the staff by pitching coach Dan McKinney, hitting coach Eduardo Nunez, bench coach Yucarybert De La Cruz and development coach Regan Saulnier.
Gomez, 29, begins his sixth season working in the Mets organization. He was St. Lucie’s bench coach in 2022 and helped guide the team to its first Florida State League championship in 16 years. Gomez was the bench coach for the FCL Mets in 2021. In 2019 he was the bench coach for Single-A Columbia. Gomez spent 2018 as the hitting coach for the DSL Mets2.
Gomez was a minor league player for the Mets from 2009-2015. He spent parts of four seasons in St. Lucie as an outfielder from 2011-2014, appearing in 238 games.
“I am extremely humbled and honored to be named the St. Lucie manager for this 2023 season,” Gomez said. “I’m very excited to be with this team day in and day out. Together with our top-notch staff, I’m looking forward to developing these young men and helping them become the best versions of themselves.”
In addition to a successful career in the Mets system, Gomez has excelled in international and winter ball coaching. This past offseason he was the quality control coach for Caribbean Series champion Tigres del Licey. He was the hitting coach and third base coach for the bronze medalist Dominican Republic at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Pitching coach Dan McKinney begins his first season in the Mets organization. McKinney joins the Mets from the college ranks where he was the Southeast Missouri State University pitching coach in 2022. McKinney also spent a season with Oakland University and two seasons with the University of Akron.
McKinney attended the University of Michigan on a baseball scholarship.
Eduardo Nunez enters his fourth season in the organization and his first as the St. Lucie hitting coach. Nunez was the hitting instructor for the FCL Mets in 2022 and the hitting coach for the DSL Mets2 in 2021. Nunez was an associate scout for the Minnesota Twins from 2018-2019.
As a player Nunez spent four years in the minor leagues with the Montreal, Washington and Kansas City organizations. He was teammates with former New York and St. Lucie manager Luis Rojas in the Expos system.
Yucarybert De La Cruz starts his seventh season in the Mets organization and his first as the St. Lucie bench coach. He spent the previous five seasons as the manager of the DSL Mets2 team. De La Cruz has been at the Mets’ Dominican Academy since 2014.
De La Cruz was a minor league player for the Mets from 2009-2013. He reached as high as St. Lucie in 2013 before beginning his coaching career.
Regan Saulnier begins her first season in the Mets organization. Saulnier becomes the first female coach in the history of the St. Lucie Mets. She is the second female coach in organization history, joining Gretchen Aucoin who was the FCL development coach in 2022.
Saulnier was a game planning strategist for the Los Angeles Angels in 2022. In 2021 she served as a minor league video and technology intern for the Cincinnati Reds. Saulnier held the same role for the Minnesota Twins from 2019-2020.
Anthony Olivieri joins St. Lucie as head athletic trainer. Olivieri begins his seventh season in the organization. In 2022 Olivieri was the assistant athletic training for Syracuse. In 2021 he was with the major league team as the Infection Control Prevention Coordinator overseeing the COVID protocols for both the major league team and minor leagues. Olivieri has also worked as a trainer for the DSL Mets, GCL Mets, Kingsport Mets and Columbia Fireflies.
Jake Allen returns for his second season as St. Lucie’s performance coach. Allen joined St. Lucie in 2022 after serving as the University of Houston’s assistant director of sports performance for two seasons. At Houston he oversaw the sports performance of the baseball team and men’s and women’s golf programs.
The St. Lucie Mets are scheduled to open their season April 7th at Clover Park against the Daytona Tortugas. Ticket information and promotions will be announced in the coming weeks.
