Rudy Jaramillo’s first audition will come on Friday.
The Mets will interview their second managerial candidate three days from now when Jaramillo, the Rangers’ vaunted hitting coach, comes to New York. Last Friday, the Mets interviewed frmer Toronto skipper Carlos Tosca.
Unlike Tosca, though, Jaramillo (pronounced “Harrah-me-oh”) is believed to have a strong chance at landing the job. And after 14 years as a major league hitting coach, he believes he’s ready for his first big-league managerial gig.
“I know I can do it,” Jaramillo told The Post in a phone interview yesterday. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”
So who is Jaramillo? The 54-year-old has been the Rangers’ hitting coach since Oct. 1994 and, prior to that, he spent the season managing the Rockies’ Bend farm team in the Northwest League. Before that, in a bit of irony, Jaramillo served as the Astros’ hitting coach from 1990-93. Houston’s manager then? One Art Howe.
Jaramillo – who, like Tosca, has known Mets GM Omar Minaya since the early 1980’s – has a superb reputation and is widely regarded as one of the game’s finest hitting coaches. With that in mind, there is some belief that if he does not win the manager’s job, the Mets could perhaps hire him as their hitting coach and install him as their “Rick Peterson of hitting.”
But Jaramillo, who is the majors’ longest-tenured hitting coach, noted he already has that kind of organizational hitting autonomy in Texas and is excited about interviewing for the Mets’ top spot.
“How many people get to manage in New York?” he asked.
Along with Jaramillo, another potentially strong candidate for the job remains Yankee bench coach Willie Randolph, who the Mets plan to speak with after the Yankee season concludes.
Meanwhile, the Phillies have asked for permission to speak to Jim Fregosi, and the Diamondbacks will interview Wally Backman tomorrow.
Backman currently is the manager of the Diamondbacks’ Single-A affiliate in Lancaster, Calif. Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr. said the Mets have not asked for permission to speak to Backman yet, but added that wouldn’t be a problem.