Local Ties: Davis to lead RailRiders in 2020
MOOSIC, PA (January 27, 2020) - The New York Yankees have announced that Doug Davis will manage the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2020. Davis is a native of Bloomsburg and has served the RailRiders in a variety of roles over the last three years. He will be joined by pitching coach Tommy Phelps and hitting coach Phil Plantier, both of whom are returning to the RailRiders dugout. Aaron Bossi and Raul Dominguez will join the staff as the team's new defensive coaches. Athletic trainer Darren London and strength and conditioning coach Brad Hyde will also return to the RailRiders for the upcoming season.
Davis, 57, graduated from Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg in 1982 and played collegiately at NC State University. He was a ninth round pick by the California Angels in the 1984 First-Year Player Draft and played professionally for 12 years, appearing in 797 games.
Davis made his Major League debut in 1988 for the Angels and finished his playing career in 1995. He moved into the coaching ranks the following season and won a New York-Penn League title with Pittsfield in 1997. In 1998, he led Columbia to the South Atlantic League crown. Davis was a bench coach on Jack McKeon's Florida Marlins staff in 2003, helping lead that club to a World Series win over the Yankees. The Toronto Blue Jays tabbed Davis to lead the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2006 and then elevated him to lead the Syracuse Chiefs in 2007 and 2008.
Over eight seasons as a manager, Davis has skippered 999 games with a .516 winning percentage (515-484). In addition to his time as a manager or coach, he has also held the positions of Minor League Field Coordinator for the Montreal Expos, the Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays.
2020 marks Phelps fifth straight season as the RailRiders pitching coach. He was originally selected in the eighth round of the 1992 First-Year Player Draft out of T.R. Robinson High School in Tampa and made his Major League debut for the Florida Marlins in 2003. This will be his 12th season as a Minor League pitching coach for the Yankees, having spent time with Trenton (2009-2014) and Tampa (2015) before joining Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Like Phelps, Plantier returns to Moosic in the same role he served each of the last two years. The former Major League outfielder was initially drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1987 and made his big league debut in 1990 at age 21. Plantier played portions of eight seasons in the Majors, spending time with the Red Sox, Padres, Astros, A's and Cardinals. Since retiring, he has spent time as both a manager, hitting coach and hitting coordinator in the Seattle Mariners farm system and managed Lake Elsinore in 2011. From 2012 through 2014, Plantier was the hitting coach for the San Diego Padres.
Bossi was signed out of Marshall University in 2016 as a non-drafted free agent and he appeared in 22 games for the GCL Yankees that summer. In 2017, he began a career off the field as a rehab assistant in the Yankees system, working in Florida with the GCL team and the instructional league. In 2019, Bossi worked as Minor League coach for the organization.
Dominguez was with the Trenton Thunder for the last two seasons and enters his 14th season within the organization. He initially signed with the Yankees as a non-drafted Minor League free agent in 2001 and played four seasons before moving to the player development side. Dominguez spent eight years managing teams in the Gulf Coast and Dominican Summer Leagues.
London returns for his 28th straight season as the athletic trainer of the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate. He was the International League's Trainer of the Year in both 2006 and 2012.
Hyde returns for his fifth season as the RailRiders strength and conditioning coach and sixth year in the organization overall. He graduated from Arkansas State in 2009 with a B.S. in exercise science and has also worked within the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants systems.
In addition to London and Hyde, Mike Macciocco returns as the clubhouse manager. Paul Henshaw joins the staff as the Video Manager and Shea Wingate is the team's new Advance Scouting Analyst.
Please direct all interview requests to Adam Marco, the Director of Communications for the RailRiders. He can be reached at 570-558-4637 or via email at [email protected]. The 2020 season begins on April 9 at PNC Field against the Buffalo Bisons.