Moosic, Pa. – A slew of familiar faces and two noteworthy additions will make up the 2015 field staff for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A/New York Yankees). Manager Dave Miley, pitching coach Scott Aldred, athletic trainer Darren London and strength & conditioning coach Lee Tressel will again mentor, mend and develop the players that call NEPA their summer home. The additions come from within the organization with hitting coach Marcus Thames and defensive coach Justin Tordi.
Miley, who was named Manager of the Year for all of minor league baseball in 2012 by Baseball America, enters his ninth season as the skipper in SWB and 10th with the Bombers’ Triple-A unit. The 2014 inductee into the IL Hall of Fame also called the shots during the Yankees’ final campaign in Columbus (2006). This marks year six with the squad for Aldred, who pitched in the bigs for nine seasons. London, the International League’s Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2006 and 2012, has spent more than two decades as the Yankees’ Triple-A athletic trainer with this season marking his 23rd at the level and 27th in a row with the organization. Tressel enters his 12th year in pinstripes and his seventh with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Thames, 37, was a 30th-round pick by the Yankees in 1996 before spending a decade in the big leagues with the Yankees (2002, 2010), Texas Rangers (2003), Detroit Tigers (2004-09) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2011). The corner outfielder belted the first of his 115 homers in his first MLB at-bat against 2015 Hall-of-Fame inductee Randy Johnson. Thames assembled a career line of .246/.309/.485/.794. He still owns Detroit’s franchise record for best at-bat/HR ratio on a career at 14.8. He spent the 2014 season as the hitting coach with Double-A Trenton and served in the same role with Advanced-A Tampa in 2013. He played 314 games in the International League including a four-game SWB stint in 2010.
Tordi, 30, was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 41st round of the 2005 draft out of the University of Florida. He spent last season as a first-base/bench coach with Low-A Charleston. The Rochester Hills, Mich. native played first, second, third, short, caught and pitched over his four seasons in the minors with the Reds. He reached Double-A both in 2008 and 2009 with Chattanooga and Carolina respectively. He earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2005 for the national runner-up Florida Gators as the team’s shortstop.
The RailRiders open their 2015 season at home on April 9 against the Syracuse Chiefs (Washington Nationals). For more information please call (570) 969-BALL (2255) or visit swbrailriders.com.
