RailCats Announce 2010 Coaching Staff, Add Former MLB Coach
February 8, 2010 - Northern League (NL)
Gary SouthShore Railcats News Release
GARY, Ind. - Former Major League player and coach Dallas Williams has been named the Gary SouthShore RailCats Third Base Coach and second-year RailCat Mick Curran has been promoted to Hitting Coach, as sixth-year manager Greg Tagert today announced the team's 2010 coaching staff.
In addition to those two changes, the RailCats staff will return Pitching Coach Jamie Bennett for his fifth season, Bench Coach Joe Gates for his eighth year, Trainer Audric Warren for his second season and seventh-year Clubhouse Manager James "Twin" Johnson.
Williams instantly becomes the most veteran coach on the RailCats staff, bringing 20 years of major and minor league coaching experience to the clubhouse along with a 12-year playing career that included parts of two seasons in the major leagues. A longtime coach with the Chicago White Sox organization, Williams was the Colorado Rockies First Base Coach from 2000-02 and held the same position with the Boston Red Sox in 2003. For the past five years, Williams has been a minor league field coach, spending the last four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A clubs in Ottawa and Norfolk.
"It's not often at our level that we are presented with the opportunity to add someone with the background and experience Dallas has," Tagert said. "We are fortunate to have him join the staff, and he'll be an invaluable asset to our entire organization."
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Williams was the 20th overall selection in the 1976 Major League Entry Draft and had a prolific minor league career, stealing an International League-leading 51 bases for the Rochester (AAA) Red Wings in 1981 before making his major league debut with the Orioles later that season. Williams was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1982 and would go on to win the American Association (AAA) batting title in 1983, earning 18 more major league games with the Reds. Williams again won a batting title with the Indianapolis Indians (AAA) in 1987 and played one more season with the Hankyu Braves in Japan's Pacific League before retiring.
Williams began his coaching career in 1989 as the hitting coach for the Kinston Indians (A), a Cleveland Indians affiliate. After a year as a roving instructor for the Tribe, Williams held the same position with the White Sox from 1990-95 before serving as a hitting coach along several stops in the White Sox system from 1996-99. Williams also spent one season as a coach for the St. Louis Cardinals Double-A affiliate in Springfield in 2004.
Curran joined the RailCats staff as Utility Coach prior to the 2009 season and replaces Kenny Graham, who was hired by the Toronto Blue Jays as a minor league hitting coach earlier this offseason, as the 'Cats Hitting Coach. Curran is an instructor at the prestigious John Mallee ProStyle Baseball School in Griffith, Ind., working regularly with some of the top major league, minor league and amateur hitters in The Region. Mallee - the Florida Marlins Minor League Hitting Coordinator - and former RailCat Anthony Iapoce - now the Blue Jays Minor League Hitting Coordinator - work regularly alongside Curran at the school.
"Several excellent candidates entered the search process as we looked for Kenny's replacement, but each time we came back with the feeling we had the right guy already on our staff." Tagert said of Curran's promotion. "Mick has the knowledge, work ethic and passion to be very successful. The experience and relationships he developed last year should prove very valuable in his transition to this new position."
Bennett, the winning pitcher in Game Five of the 2005 Northern League Championship Series, has been mentoring RailCats hurlers ever since and consistently presides over one of the circuit's top staffs. Bennett's charges have won a pair of Northern League Pitcher of the Year Awards and five different RailCats have been named postseason All-Stars under his watch. The RailCats have twice boasted a team ERA under 4.00 since 2006 and finished second in the league in ERA in 2009.
"Every manager in the game needs someone like Jamie Bennett - someone who has the pulse of the club, can handle every situation and acts as a sounding board," Tagert said. "He's my right hand man and has risen to a very high level in the coaching industry. It would be hard to find a better pitching coach at any level in baseball."
Gates, a former Chicago White Sox infielder and Gary native, is the longest-serving RailCats coach and has been a member of every staff since the club's first home season in 2003. A graduate of Gary Roosevelt High School, Gates served as the Head Baseball Coach at Gary Wirt High School before the school closed prior to the start of this school year.
"We're thrilled Joe Gates is returning for another season," Tagert said. "He's been here since my first day on the job and has been committed to the RailCats franchise since its beginning."
Johnson was also with the 'Cats in 2003 and has been the team's Clubhouse Manager all but one season. Warren, a Bishop Noll Institute graduate, joined the RailCats in 2009 after serving in the same capacity for the Frontier League's Windy City Thunderbolts in 2008.
Tagert is the reigning Northern League Manager of the Year (an award he's won twice) and the all-time winningest manager in team history. Since taking over the 'Cats in 2005, Tagert has won a pair of Northern League Championships and taken the team to the Championship Series five years in a row. After leaving the Frontier League as that circuit's all-time winningest manager, Tagert has now posted 14 consecutive winning seasons in 14 years as a minor league skipper and boasts an exceptional career record of 688-541 (.560).
The RailCats begin the 2010 season Thursday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at U. S. Steel Yard against the Kansas City T-Bones. Before that, however, the 'Cats welcome fans to the second-annual RailCats Fan Fest, Saturday, February 20 at the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville. Discount Fan Fest tickets are on sale now by calling 219.882.2255 or visiting www.railcatsbaseball.com.
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