Yankees Set 2026 SWB Field Staff
IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Yankees Set 2026 SWB Field Staff

Published on February 5, 2026 under International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


MOOSIC, PA - The New York Yankees have set the RailRiders field staff for the 2026 season with Shelley Duncan returning to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 2025 International League Manager of the Year helms the Yankees' Triple-A squad for the fourth consecutive season and gets back the crux of the staff that helped pace the RailRiders to a second-half title and postseason berth.

"Being a part of the Yankees organization is a huge privilege," Duncan stated. "It's the best organization in baseball... the best organization across the sports. It's awesome. And it's family... the people in this organization. I absolutely love them from the top down. It feels like a home to me. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has been absolutely wonderful the last three years. And to be there a fourth year, it's going to be another fun one."

Spencer Medick is the RailRiders' Pitching Coach after serving as the Bullpen Coach in 2025. Hitting Coach Mike Merganthaler and Bench Coach Gil Velazquez return for a second year on Duncan's staff as well, while Raul Dominguez is back in Moosic as the club's defensive coach after three seasons as the Double-A Somerset manager. Peter Larson joins the staff as the new Bullpen Coach.

Athletic Trainer Brandon Rodríguez, Assistant Athletic Trainer Hannah Davis, Home Clubhouse Manager Jim Billington and Video & Tech Assistant Danny Althoff all return to their roles with the RailRiders, while Isiah McDonald joins the staff as the Strength & Conditioning Coach and Matt Wells is the Advance Scouting Analyst.

Duncan, 46, has led Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to 249 wins over three seasons at the helm and to a second-half IL crown last year. He was named the 20th manager in franchise history in January 2023. Duncan was drafted by the Yankees in 2001 as a second-round selection out of the University of Arizona. He reached Triple-A with Columbus in 2006 and spent portions of three seasons in an SWB Yankees uniform. Duncan appeared in 272 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre between 2007 and 2009. In 2009, he hit .277 with 30 home runs and 99 runs batted in over 123 games, garnering the nod for International League MVP. His Major League career spanned 330 games for the Yankees, Cleveland and Tampa Bay over seven years.

"Sometimes, it's hard to leave that off-season lifestyle," Duncan stated. "You know, you get this beautiful weather down here in Arizona. You get to spend time with family. But as soon as spring training starts and everyone starts talking baseball, the grinds start going. And you always look forward to doing new things, trying to grow as a coach, trying to grow as a manager. You have a whole new and different team. We're going to have different faces and players. I'm going to spend a lot of time in spring training, building relationships, seeing what we got and seeing what type of atmosphere we've got to build. That's always exciting. There are always little things that you want to bring to the table that you want to keep going on from years past. But in reality, it's a new year. The challenge of trying to figure out what you need to build is something that really excites me."

Medick has been a coach in the Yankees' farm system since 2022. After a stint as the pitching coach for the FCL Yankees in 2022, he served in the same role for Hudson Valley for the two seasons before joining Duncan's staff last year. Medick pitched at Elon University and began his professional career with Arizona in 2014. He closed his playing days with three seasons in the Frontier League. After retiring, Medick became a throwing trainer at both Prime Sports Performance and Driveline Baseball before joining New York's minor league fray.

Mergenthaler enters his second season as the RailRiders' Hitting Coach. Before joining the Yankees' Minor League ranks, he spent eight seasons with the Cleveland Guardians, working his way up through their system. Mergenthaler was originally selected in the 32nd round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft by San Francisco out of the University of Richmond and played professionally for three years.

Velazquez returns to the RailRiders' dugout for a second straight year as well, having rejoined the Yankees organization in 2025 after ten years as a manager, coach or coordinator with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks organizations. He was selected by the New York Mets in the 14th round of the 1998 draft and played professionally for 16 seasons, including 27 games in 2013 for the RailRiders. He began his coaching career in 2015 and managed the Great Lakes Loons in 2016 and the Reno Aces in 2022.

Dominguez spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons on the RailRiders' staff. 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 led the Somerset Patriots to 232 wins over the last three seasons, making the playoffs in each year. 2026 marks his 18th season in the Yankees organization.

Larson enters his second season with the Yankees after serving as the Somerset Pitching Coach last year. He spent six years in the Minnesota Twins Minor League system, including two seasons with the Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul. Larson graduated from Ferrum College in 2009 and was a four-year member of the Panther baseball team. Before his time in the professional ranks, he served as a coach for King University, Siena College, the University of Albany and Fordham University.

"In my eyes, everything's going to run really smoothly," said Duncan. "Raul has experience in Scranton. Pete has a lot of Triple-A experience. Both guys have been in the organization, so this isn't new to them. I've spent a lot of time with Raul over the last three years. Our communication has been lockstep over the course of the last few seasons, and I'm extremely happy to have him. He's one of the best coaches in our organization. What Pete brings to the table, in complementing Spencer, is going to be another valuable asset. He'll be in the bullpen, adding all kinds of different things to these guys to get them big-league ready. The pitchers are going to have a higher big-league awareness."

"Having Mergie [Mike Mergenthaler], Spencer and Gil back again," Duncan continued, "I tell you what... It's a lot of fun when you go into year two of the coaching staff rather than a brand new one. You always have some growing pains at the beginning when you have a new staff, but when you have continuity, it really allows you to have a smooth start and get things going around the get-go."

Rodríguez returned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2025, having spent the first half of 2023 with the RailRiders. He enters his fifth season with the Yankees after starting with the Tampa Tarpons in 2022. He took the lead role in Somerset midway through the 2023 campaign and remained in that spot in 2024. Before joining up with the New York, he spent two seasons in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Rodríguez received an Associate's Degree from the University of Puerto Rico-Ponce and his B.S. and M.S. in Athletic Training from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Davis enters her second season with the Yankees and the RailRiders. Before joining the organization, she spent several years working in Division 1 college baseball. Davis also spent the 2021 season with the Chicago Cubs and their Triple-A affiliate in Iowa. Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, she completed her undergrad at the University of South Carolina with her B.S. in athletic training and went to grad school at Baylor University, where she received her M.S. in athletic training.

McDonald enters his first year with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and his fifth with the Yankees. He started in New York's Minor League system in 2022 with the FCL Yankees, where he was named the Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year during his first year in professional baseball. After serving the same role with Hudson Valley in 2023, McDonald spent the last two seasons in Double-A with Somerset. McDonald played baseball collegiately at Thompson Rivers University and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in kinesiology and exercise science.

"They're the unseen architecture of the operation," Duncan said of the RailRiders' training and support staff. "Day to day, Brandon, Hannah, Isiah, Danny, Matt and Jim manage the hidden variables: workload, recovery curves, information flow and competitive readiness. Their work integrates physiology, data, preparation and foresight into one coherent system. Nothing is accidental, and nothing is reactive. They are as good as it gets in each of their respective fields."

The RailRiders begin 2026 on the road on March 27 with a nine-game trip to Buffalo and Rochester. The home opener is scheduled for April 7 at 6:35 P.M. as the Durham Bulls come to PNC Field. Season tickets are on sale now, and single-game tickets will be available starting at 10 A.M. on February 9. Call (570) 969-2255 or visit swbrailriders.com for more information.

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International League Stories from February 5, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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