IL Buffalo Bisons

Casey Candaele Returns to Manage Bisons in 2022

March 14, 2022 - International League (IL)
Buffalo Bisons News Release


Today the Toronto Blue Jays announced the coaching staff that will lead the Buffalo Bisons during the 2022 season. CASEY CANDAELE will return as manager for the second straight season, after being named the Triple-A East Co-Manager of the Year in 2021 for guiding the Herd to one of the most successful regular seasons in the team's modern era. He is joined by the 2021 coaching staff that helped guide the Bisons to the first ever Triple-A East Northeast Division pennant.

The 2022 Bisons return to the field to defend their division crown beginning on Opening Day, April 5 against the Iowa Cubs at Sahlen Field. It will mark the first meeting between the teams since Buffalo topped Iowa in the 1997 American Association Championship, the final game in the league's affiliated baseball history.

Once again, JEFF WARE will serve as the team's pitching coach, while COREY HART returns at the Herd's hitting coach, DEVON WHITE will once again reprise his role as a position coach, along with JAKE MCGUIGGAN as a development coach.

Candaele became the first person in the modern era to win a division crown as a player and a manager. Candaele was a pivotal member of the 1997 American Association Championship team. He was named the 1997 Most Inspirational Player by his teammates that season.

He helped guide the Bisons to 29 victories during their re-location to Trenton Thunder Ballpark and finished with 43 overall home wins last season, the second-most in Triple-A East. Buffalo won the Northeast Division by four and a half games with a 79-47 record and completed the 'Final Stretch' postseason tournament with an 8-1 record, finishing second to Durham in both the regular season and postseason.

Ware returns to the Bisons for his second season as pitching coach. The team's pitching staff posted the second-best overall earned run average in Triple-A baseball last season with a 3.46 mark, as well as a 2.83 bullpen ERA which was the best of all 30 teams in Triple-A.

Originally assigned to the Bisons prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season, Ware has coached in the Blue Jays organization since 2014. He began his coaching career with the New York Yankees in 2007, and first served as pitching coach for the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts for the Blue Jays in 2015.

He was selected by Toronto in the first round, 35th overall, in the 1991 draft. Ware made his Major League debut in 1995 with the Blue Jays, appearing in 18 games between the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He also pitched in parts of three Triple-A seasons for Syracuse, going 7-0 for the Chiefs in 1995.

Hart returns to reprise his role at hitting coach for the fourth straight season. He once again helped the team improve in several offensive categories including batting average (.262) last season. The Bisons also recorded the third fewest number of strikeouts among the 20-team Triple-A East with 1044.

He began his coaching career with the Milwaukee Brewers organization from 2006-2009, before joining 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. Hart is entering his seventh season in the Blue Jays system, beginning his tenure with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays.

Hart played eight minor league seasons from 1998-2005, reaching the Triple-A level with Omaha in 2002 and again in 2004. In 713 career games, the infielder hit .242 with 17 home runs and 248 RBI and a .371 on-base percentage. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 23rd round of 1998 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oklahoma.

White is in his fifth season as a Bisons coach, and his fourth year as position coach for the team, making him the longest tenured coach in the franchise's modern history. He served as the club's hitting coach in 2017. The seven-time gold glover primarily works with the Herd's outfielders and on base running.

Last season, the Bisons finished the year with 117 stolen bases which was the seventh most in Triple-A. That included 35 stolen bases by outfielder Forrest Wall, third highest in the league.

White is a three-time World Series champion, both in 1992 and 1993 with the Blue Jays, along with 1997 as a member of the Florida Marlins. He served as the outfielder and baserunning coordinator in the Washington Nationals farm system from 2008-2010 and as the minor league baserunning coordinator for the Chicago White Sox from 2011-2012.

McGuiggan is back with the Herd for the second straight season. He was originally promoted as a development coach prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season and served in that role last year for the team. He previously served as an analyst coach with the Dunedin Blue Jays (A-Adv) in 2019. This season marks his fourth season as in the Toronto organization after first working as a video analyst with Bluefield (ROK).

He played collegiately at Harvard from 2011 to 2015, as well as for New Britain and Long Island in the Atlantic League from 2016 to 2017.

The team also announced that CALEB DANIEL returns as the team's athletic trainer, while JUSTIN BATCHER will serve as strength and conditioning coach. They will be joined by mental performance coach ROB DIBERNARDO, nutritionist KARA TERRY, and technology assistant BRIAN SHERIDAN.

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