Blue Jays name Casey Candaele Bisons manager

The Toronto Blue Jays today announced that they have named CASEY CANDAELE the next manager of the Buffalo Bisons. The former Herd infielder and American Association All-Star becomes the 22nd manager the Bisons modern era.

Candaele is the fourth former Bisons player to also manage the team in the modern era, joining Joel Skinner, Torey Lovullo and Bobby Meacham.

Returning to the coaching staff to work under Candaele are hitting coach COREY HART, position coach DEVON WHITE and pitching coach JEFF WARE. Additionally, the Blue Jays have assigned development coach JAKE McGUIGGAN, athletic trainer CALEB DANIEL, strength and conditioning coach JUSTIN BATCHER, dietitian KAT MANGIERI and mental performance coach JOHN LANNAN.

CASEY CANDAELE

Candaele is entering his third season as a manager in the Toronto Blue Jays system (fourth overall), having served as manager of the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League in 2018 (69-68) and the short-season Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League in 2019 (30-46). In 2020, he oversaw all Blue Jays minor leaguers that were not assigned to the club’s alternate training site in Rochester.

Prior to joining the Blue Jays, Candaele was the Seattle Mariners first base coach and outfield/baserunning instructor in 2016 and 2017 and spent five years in the Texas Rangers organization as the minor league field coordinator (2015) and a minor league infield and baserunning coordinator (2011-2014). From 2000-2010, Candaele held various coaching positions at San Luis Obispo (CA) High School and in summer collegiate baseball leagues.

Candaele spent three seasons of his 18-year professional playing career with the Bisons (1995-1997), appearing in 270 games and averaging .265 with 79 extra base hits (17 home runs), 113 RBI and 155 runs scored. He was an American Association All-Star in 1996 in a year he hit .311 with 66 runs scored in 94 games. A favorite among Buffalo fans and his teammates, Candaele was voted by his fellow Bisons as the club’s 1997 Most Inspirational Player. That season, when a torn knee ligament in Game Three of the AA semifinals caused Candaele to miss the remainder of the playoffs, many of his Bisons teammates had “CC 10” written in their caps as they captured the team’s first Triple-A Championship since 1961.

Originally signed by Montreal in 1982, Candaele played 754 Major League games with the Expos, Astros and Indians with a .250 average, 11 home runs and 139 RBI. He appeared in two games for Cleveland during the 1996 American League Divisional Series and played every position in his Big League career other than pitcher and catcher.

Born in Lompoc, CA, Candaele attended the University of Arizona and helped the Wildcats to a 1980 NCAA Championship. His mother, Helen Callaghan, was a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and was often referred to as “The Ted Williams of women’s baseball” (Candaele’s aunt, Margaret, also played in the league). It is believed that Helen and Casey are the only mother-son combination to have both played professional baseball.

COACHING STAFF

Hart returns for his third season as the Herd’s hitting coach after joining the team in 2018. He is entering his sixth season in the Blue Jays system, beginning his tenure with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays. Hart began his coaching career with the Milwaukee Brewers organization from 2006-2009, before working with the Miami Marlins from 2010-2015. He served as the hitting coach for the Single-A Jupiter Hammerheads from 2012-2015 for the Marlins organization.

White is back for his fourth year with Buffalo and will become just the second modern era coach to coach four years with the Herd, joining former pitching coach Jackie Brown (1988-1991). White was the Bisons hitting coach in 2017 before taking over as position coach in 2018. The three-time All-Star won three World Series championships as a player, both in 1992 and 1993 with the Blue Jays and as a member of the Florida Marlins in 1997.

Ware was set to join the Herd’s coaching staff before 2020’s canceled season and will remain the team’s pitching coach. He served as the pitching coordinator for the Blue Jays organization each of the last three years. He previously served as a pitching coach in the Jays organization, first in 2014 for the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League, his first season back with the organization that drafted him in the 1st round, 35th overall, in the 1991 draft. He was the pitching coach at Single-A Lansing in 2015.

McGuiggan served as an analyst coach with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays in 2019 and for rookie-level Bluefield in 2018.