TAMPA -- The Rays quickly turned to a familiar face to fill the lone vacancy on their Major League coaching staff.

The Rays on Monday hired Ozzie Timmons as their assistant hitting coach, the club announced, bringing the 55-year-old back on to manager Kevin Cash’s staff after he served as Tampa Bay’s first-base coach from 2018-21.

Timmons also previously worked as an assistant hitting coach and baserunning instructor in his first stint as a big league coach, helping out hitting coach Chad Mottola in that role. His habit of doing 10 pushups for every run the Rays scored made him a popular figure in the dugout and among fans, especially when Tampa Bay possessed one of the Majors’ highest-scoring lineups during his final season.

Timmons was set to increase his focus on hitting instructio

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