Hensley Meulens interviews for Yankees manager’s job

On Thursday, current Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens became the third person to interview for the vacant Yankees managerial position.

If you were a fan of those bad Yankees teams of the early 90s, then you likely remember the name Hensley Meulens.

Signed at 18 out of Curacao as an international free agent, Meulens spent parts of five seasons with the club.

A former top prospect, Meulens never quite lived up to his childhood nickname of “Bam Bam,” hitting .220 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI in 182 career games.

The well-traveled Meulens also played three years in Japan before hooking on with the Expos and Diamondbacks in 1997-98. He finally hung up his glove in 2002 after plying his trade in Mexico.

Immediately after, Meulens entered coaching, spending seven seasons as a minor league coach.

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One of the benefits of playing in multiple countries is the opportunity to learn different languages. Meulens speaks five languages in total, including English, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch and Papiamento.

After eight seasons as Giants’ hitting coach, which includes three World Series championships, it was only last month that he was promoted to bench coach alongside Bruce Bochy.

As far as experience goes, Meulens also managed the Netherlands in the 2013 World Baseball Classic — finishing in fourth place.

Since then, Meulens has formed a bond with current Yankees’ shortstop and budding superstar Didi Gregorius. Throughout the offseason in their native Curacao, Meulens and Gregorius work out three times a week together. 

Following Rob Thomson and Eric Wedge in succession as interviewees, Meulens faced 10-12 people during his professional evaluation on Thursday.

Meulens expressed to ESPN.com, his belief that a manager needs to keep the lines of communication open — as to let his players know the skipper is always there for them. Surely, those five languages must come in handy.

“You have to talk about analytics and answer questions about how you would construct the lineup, taking in there is a lot of numbers involved now,” Muelens said. “I was cautious of how I answered those questions and realizing if I do take this job, there’s going to be more and more on the table.”

Next: Yankees looking at Jurickson Profar

It’s expected that ESPN analyst and former Yankee hero Aaron Boone will interview for manager on Friday.