Michael Dean Chadwick, Josh Hamilton's father-in-law, has been named as a special assistant by the Texas Rangers.
Chadwick is expected to travel with the team and be an accountability partner to Hamilton. When the Rangers acquired Hamilton four years ago, the club brought in Johnny Narron to be Hamilton's accountability partner. Narron has accepted a position as Milwaukee's hitting coach for the 2012 season.
Hamilton battled alcohol and drug addiction when he was younger and was completely out of baseball for several years.
“When we traded for Josh, we felt that Johnny was a key hire and it turns out he was,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told reporters. “There was a little bit more unknown when he was traded. He had never played here before, never been on the stage in the same regard. We look at this more as it’s a support system more than a necessity. ... Josh is in a very different position today than he was when we acquired him, both personally and professionally.”
Chadwick has been CEO of his home-building and development company in Apex and is the head of the nonprofit Mike Chadwick Ministries. He often speaks in churches and to athletic groups about his Christian faith and the story of his own substance abuse issues he had earlier in life.
