Notebook: Casey Candaele's Positive Attitude Provides Levity For Buffalo

When first asked about the Buffalo Bisons’ 17-9 record in June and 10-2 road trip, manager Casey Candaele was immediately prepared to accept all the credit.

“Me,” said Candaele. “I am the only reason we are doing so well.”

But almost instantaneously after firing off the satiric comment Candaele laughed, gave the only smile that could light up a gloomy Zoom press conference and began shoveling all of the credit onto his pitching staff, hitters and assistant coaches.

“These guys really just kind of know where they're at and they come ready to play and it's a good vibe," said Candaele. "These are quality professional guys and they come to play every day and I couldn't be happier with them and proud of how they go about their business.”

While the immense adoration for his roster and coaching staff looks good on him, Candaele should be a bit less modest. The former Bisons' second basemen has had as much to do with the Bisons’ success during the 2021 MiLB season as any coach or player in the organization.

Signed formally in March as the team’s 22nd modern era manager, Candaele was returning to a team he had known on several different occasions as home.

Candaele was a member of the Buffalo Bisons organization for stints during his 11-year major league playing career and was formally the manager of the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League in 2018 and the short-season Vancouver Canadians in 2019 before becoming the Bisons’ manager in 2021.

With a wealth of knowledge and experience, Candaele has worked wonders on the Bisons' roster. As of Friday, the Bisons begin their July slate of games with a 29-19 record good enough for second in Triple-A Northeast division and fifth in the Triple-A East league, five games back of the first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

“We're just doing a lot of good things right now, battling,” said Candaele. “They are locked in and in a groove and trusting their teammates and themselves.”

Despite being a career second basemen, the number one thing that stands out as to why Candaele’s team is so successful is the starting and relief pitching. Buffalo ranks second in Triple-A East in both team ERA at 3.36 and starters ERA at 3.68 while the bullpen ERA is third with a 3.01 ERA.

Candaele has continually pressed the notion of attacking hitters and throwing fastballs for strikes early in counts to keep batters off balance.

“The pitching staff has been awesome,” said Canadaele. “There are a lot a lot of guys coming out and doing good things we want like attacking the zone which is very important and going after hitters and then using different off-speed stuff to put them away.”

The message has run throughout the entire team. Both the team’s pitching coach Jeff Ware and starter Jacob Waguespack have emphasized the same strategy and have been successful in executing it.

Waguespack is amidst the best season of his Triple-A career posting a 3.43 ERA in 42 innings and consecutive wins to finish the month of June.

“Specifically, we just wanted to come out and attack,” said Waguespack. “Attack and use the fastball inside, and mix you know my speed and flip in the curveball a little earlier. My first start, I was pretty reliant on the two-seam, and you know this restart tonight I talked with the coaches and threw a lot more for two seams and, you know, kind of let that play.”

On the offensive side, Candaele is quick to heap more praise onto his hitters highlighting his daily difficulties of putting together a lineup.

“It is difficult juggling guys around and making sure that you keep the guys that are kind of swinging the bat well in the lineup and you want to take advantage of that when you can,” said Candaele. “And right now, it's been working out where every time you put somebody in there and they do so good and it's good, good, good, good problem to have.”

Regardless of his humility, Candaele has a lot to do with the Bisons’ offense burst in June installing a more patient-hitting philosophy among his team.

After ranking 17th in walks in Triple-A East in May, Buffalo flipped the script in June drawing the second most walks in the league. As a result, Buffalo averaged 5.8 runs per game during the month compared to just 4.3 in May and also hit 13 more home runs in June while playing just three more games during the month.

“It has really been just a great patience at the plate and waiting to get pitches to hit,” said Candaele. “[Hitters] have made some tremendous adjustments from previous years and learned a lot and Corey Hart has done a great job with them getting them locked in and I think you know they have matured as hitters.”

“You know we're patient and we grind it out and keep battling and I think that's with our team is,” said Candaele. “If you do that and make pitchers work, they make mistakes and then you capitalize on that.”

Redress of how well Buffalo plays and Candaele manages, due to the COVID-19, the MiLB has made no plans to hold a postseason tournament following the season. Without a postseason the desire to win could be deemed less essential for players at the Triple-A level whose priority is to reach the MLB.

However, Candaele intends to continue pushing the message that winning is the primary concern and the rest of the roster, including the hottest hitter in their lineup Kevin Smith, plans to echo the idea.

“We're trying to win the league man,” said Smith. “It's fun to win and it's not fun to lose you know no matter what level you're at, so we go out there every night expecting to win and right now we're on a hot streak.”