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J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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With Ron Washington returning to Texas, where he led the Rangers to their first World Series appearance, the Angels’ manager revealed why he’s on medical leave.
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Ron Washington revealed that he underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery eight weeks ago — a major medical procedure that will keep him out of the dugout for the remainder of the 2025 season. Bench coach Ray Montgomery has been managing the Angels on an interim basis ever since.
Ron Washington said he underwent heart bypass surgery eight weeks ago.
— Jeff Wilson (@JeffWilsonTXR) August 25, 2025
In addition, the 73-year-old manager revealed to reporters that he’s quit smoking since undergoing surgery. He sounded optimistic about being able to return to his job next season.
“If Perry (Minasian, the Angels’ general manager) will have me back, I’m certainly willing to come back and finish what we started,” Washington said, via Erica Weston of FanDuel Sports Network West.
“If Perry will have me back, I’m certainly willing to come back and finish what we started.”
— Erica Weston (@EricaLWeston) August 25, 2025
Washington returned to managing after a 10-year absence in 2024. He guided a young Angels team to the worst record in franchise history, at 63-99. The Angels were 36-38 on June 20 when the team announced Washington was taking an indefinite leave to address a medical issue.
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The Angels announced a week later that Washington would miss the remainder of the 2025 season. They are 25-31 under Montgomery since Washington left the team.
Ben Ludeman/Texas Rangers/Getty Images
In the meantime, Washington did not specify the nature of the medical issue that led to his absence — until Monday.
The Angels and Rangers kick off a three-game series Monday at Globe Life Field.
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Washington managed the Rangers from 2007-14, his first managerial job at the major-league level. In 2010 the team reached the World Series for the first time, losing in five games to the San Francisco Giants.
Washington’s Rangers won the American League pennant in 2011 but lost in the World Series again, this time in a heartbreaking seven-game series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Three years later, Washington abruptly resigned in the middle of the 2014 season.
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Washington was 664-611 in eight seasons behind the Rangers’ bench.
Although he has yet to lift the Angels to the same heights, Washington’s young players have begun to turn the franchise around in 2025. The team is on pace for a 76-win season. That would be the Angels’ best season since 2021, when Shohei Ohtani claimed his first American League MVP award.
More to come on this story from Newsweek Sports.
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About the writer
J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
Jon Paul Hoornstra
J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers …
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