Minor league coaching assignments might not be the splashiest transactions but, the Indians didn’t get to the World Series last year without good player development and coaches. So even if you don’t think they’re important, they are.
Chris Tremie returns to manage at Triple-A Columbus for a fifth season. This is his 12th year as a manager in the organization, so the Indians obviously trust him and there hasn’t been any room to promote him. The city of Columbus the Clippers’ owners love the Indians and Tremie because they’ve been a consistent winner with him there. Steve Karsay will return for his second season as the pitching coach at Columbus. He’s very well liked by the organization and a major league pitching coach in waiting for someone whether that spot is ever vacated by Mickey Callaway or he gets the call from another organization. Rouglas Odor heads back to Columbus for his third year as their hitting coach.
In Akron, Mark Budzinski takes over for Dave Wallace, who decided to take a Front Office role instead of manage. Wallace joins the front office staff as a Special Assignment Coordinator and was Baseball America’s Minor League Manager of the Year in 2016. This is Budzinski’s fourth year in the Indians organization as a coach or manager. He spent the last two years at Advanced-A Lynchburg as its manager and also served as the Low-A Lake County Captains manager for a year. Organization veteran pitching coach Tony Arnold will be the RubberDucks pitching coach. Johnny Narron is a newcomer as the hitting coach. He was with the Angels organization last year as a hitting coach and has also served as a major league hitting coach with the Brewers. He is the brother of former manager Jerry Narron.
Tony Mansolino moves up from manager of Lake County to Lynchburg and brings respected pitching coach Rigo Beltran with him and hitting coach Kevin Howard. Mansolino has worked his way up as hitting coach before becoming a manager.
Larry Day is also a former hitting coach who will get his first chance to manage at Low-A Lake County as Mansolino moves up. Former Indians minor league utility man Justin Toole moves to Lake County as the hitting coach. Toole was the hitting coach at Mahoning Valley last year and could also see time as a manager some year soon. The Captains’ pitching coach has yet to be announced.
Former Indians catcher Luke Carlin will take over the reigns as Mahoning Valley’s manager. Carlin was with Akron last year as a coach and will now begin his career managing. Pete Lauritson will be the hitting coach and the Scrappers’ pitching coach is to be determined. Former Indians farmhand Grant Fink spent the last few years in Indy ball and returns to the organization as Carlin’s bench coach. Fink was a third basemen who didn’t advance past Lake County but was a well respected teammate and highly thought of within the organization.
There were some other changes and new roles as well as the return of some old ones that you might see around the minor league affiliates. Familiar names like Johny Goryl, Travis Fryman, Tim Tolman, Tom Widenbauer, John McDonald, Ruben Niebla, Bruce Chen and Jim Rickon return.
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