Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Devo In Buffalo & Miller Time Again In Van City

Devo In Buffalo & Miller Time Again In Van City

The Toronto Blue Jays have rounded out its minor league managing and coaching staffs for the 2017 season. The most notable move sees Blue Jays legend Devon White (or Whyte) becoming the new hitting coach of the Buffalo Bisons.

Devon White will be in charge of the Blue Jays Triple-A hitters in 2017.

White will team up with pitching coach Bob Stanley and position coach Aaron Matthews on the Bisons staff.

At the Double-A level, Gary Allenson is switching spots with Bobby Meacham with Allenson skippering New Hampshire and Meacham manning Buffalo. Allenson, who managed the Fisher Cats in 2013, will have returning pitching coach Vince Horsman and new hitting coach Ronnie Ortegon on his staff. Andy Fermin will be the player position coach.

In Dunedin, John Schneider is the new manager as he leaves the gig in Lansing. Michel Abreu will look after the hurlers and Corey Hart will deal with the batters.

Willie Collazo (in the middle) will look after the pitchers in Lansing this season.

Cesar Martin gets a promotion as he will be managing the Lansing Lugnuts after being at the helm of the Gulf Coast squad in 2016. Willie Collazo moves up from Vancouver to be the new pitching coach and Donnie Murphy is the new hitting boss. Chris Schaeffer is also on the coaching staff.

Vancouver will turn things over to Rich Miller, who took over the helm late in 2011 to lead the C's to their first Northwest League title. Dave Pano is back again as hitting coach and Jim Czajkowski is doing another tour of duty in Van City. In Bluefield, Dennis Holmberg returns as manager and will have Antonio Caceres dealing with the pitchers and Carlos Villalobos handling the hitters.

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John Tamargo Jr. will have to deal with umpires in the Dominican Summer League this year.

The Gulf Coast League club will be run by Luis Hurtado, Juan Rincon and Paul Matthews as manager, pitching coach and hitting coach respectively. John Tamargo Jr. will be managing the Dominican Summer League squad in 2017 after spending 2016 in Vancouver. The pitching coach will be Rafael Lazo, the hitting boss will be Julio Germanson and Jose Mateo will serve as another voice on the bench.

Other key minor league hirings include Eric Wedge as field coordinator and Mike Mordecai as Wedge's assistant. Jeff Ware is the pitching coordinator, Ken Huckaby is the catching coordinator and Danny Solano is in charge of the infield.

Extra Innings

CanadiansBaseball.com salutes newly-minted Hall of Famer Tim Raines, a Blue Jays roving baserunning/outfield coordinator.
Jays reliever Joe Biagini will be in Vancouver for the C's annual hot stove luncheon Friday.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Thursday, January 19 2017 @ 04:42 PM EST.

Devo In Buffalo & Miller Time Again In Van City | 18 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

jerjapan - Thursday, January 19 2017 @ 09:46 PM EST (#337962) #

Devon White eh? Interesting - reminds me of discussion on the other thread about developing a batting eye as you age - I remember him struggling to take walks with the Jays, but looking back at his career now, he definitely improved at age 30. Happy to have the guy in the org, he was such a special player.

ComebyDeanChance - Thursday, January 19 2017 @ 10:24 PM EST (#337964) #

#2JB? Where's the Shaker?

John Northey - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 12:10 AM EST (#337968) #

Between Devo and Raines the Jays have a couple of good baserunners to teach the kids. I suspect being a newly minted HOF'er will give Raines even more power when talking with the kids who might not know who he is otherwise.

Richard S.S. - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 02:46 AM EST (#337974) #

I don't think I missed many Games Tim Raines played as an Expo or Devon White played as a Jays. If it was on TV, I saw it. Devo never looked like he was running hard, yet he missed so very little. That was fun to watch.

scottt - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 06:53 AM EST (#337976) #

Bob Stanley was known as The Steamer.

Who's the Shaker?

jerjapan - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 08:06 AM EST (#337978) #

Lloyd Moseby!

Never knew the origin of it, but according to Wikipedia: "Moseby's nickname Shaker was said to stem from his ability to get away from or "shake" players who attempted to defend him on the basketball court".

Gerry - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 09:14 AM EST (#337980) #

Interesting that Devo was never a great hitter, but it is usually the guys who really had to work at it that make the best coaches.

Mike Green - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 10:43 AM EST (#337985) #

Devo had a late-developing offensive career, like Chili Davis albeit at a lower level. He had an OPS+ of 90 between age 24 and 27, and an OPS+ of 101 between age 28 and 38. This may speak to his learning ability.

It is not well known how good he was. In addition to his 47 bWAR over his career (which would put him just short of a marginal Hall of Fame range), he was very good in the post-season. He slashed.296/.365/.450 in 211 PAs and of course playing his usual great defence. He was in 5 post-seasons and his team won the World Series 3 times.

uglyone - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 10:47 AM EST (#337986) #

Shaker Mo'

I was always under the impression that the nickname was a reference to his religiosity.

Mike Green - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 11:22 AM EST (#337987) #

The Lloyd Moseby wikipedia page links to an article by Jim Brosnan in a Boy Scouts of America magazine. It's worth reading for Moseby's comments on Cito Gaston's role in helping him with the mental aspects of hitting- how is the pitcher going to try to get me out and how will I try to deal with it.

It should be noted that Devon White made a significant offensive jump when he arrived in Toronto. I can think of a couple of positive influences (at least)- Cito Gaston and Rance Mulliniks.

Mike Green - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 11:26 AM EST (#337988) #

Here is the link for the Brosnan article.

Oceanbound - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 11:41 AM EST (#337989) #

I guess the NH position coach Andy Fermin is the same minor leaguer who topped out at NH and played a few games for Dunedin last year.

#2JBrumfield - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 12:28 PM EST (#337991) #

Sal Fasano is managing the Angels affiliate in Double-A. Former Jays minor leaguer Buddy Carlyle will be his pitching coach.

jerjapan - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 04:12 PM EST (#337992) #

Good for Fermin than, making a career out of baseball despite not having the skills as a player. I've always thought the scrappy longshot types make good coaches ...

Even Devo - having to learn how to be a hitter instead of relying on his natural athleticism.

Gerry - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 04:43 PM EST (#337993) #

Charlie Caskey is at the Vancouver hot stove lunch and reports the Jays have released Clinton Hollon. Hollon served a 50 game suspension last year and did not come back to play after that. In fact he did not have an official appearance in 2016.

PeterG - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 08:11 PM EST (#337996) #

He must not be drug free. It seems that this FO places more emphasis on character and baseball IQ whereas the previous one only seemed to care about athletic projectability.

scottt - Friday, January 20 2017 @ 08:33 PM EST (#337997) #

For Hollon it was 2 back to back 50 games suspensions following Tommy John surgery.
That's a lot of missed time.

China fan - Sunday, January 22 2017 @ 01:15 PM EST (#338045) #

"....It seems that this FO places more emphasis on character and baseball IQ whereas the previous one only seemed to care about athletic projectability..."

Really one of the most ludicrous generalizations that I've read in a long time.

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