A familiar face will be in the dugout at Dunkin' Donuts Park during the 2019 Hartford Yard Goats season. The team announced Thursday Warren Schaeffer will return as manager. Schaeffer now becomes the first ever manager to return for consecutive seasons in Hartford.
“We are ecstatic to have Warren and Lee back in Hartford for another season and welcome Steve to our staff,” Yard Goats President Tim Restall said. “Warren and Lee were a pleasure to work with last season and we look forward to having them as part of our wonderful community again in 2019.”
The Yard Goats finished the 2018 season with a record of 65-72, 12.5 games behind the first place Trenton Thunder. But during the season, six Yard Goats players were named to the Eastern League All-Star team with multiple players growing within in the Colorado Rockies' organization.
Schaeffer, 33, managed the Low-A Asheville Tourists from 2015-2017. In 2016, the Tourists went 40-29 in the second half and reached the South Atlantic League Championship Series. The former infielder was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 38th round of the 2007 MLB draft from Virginia Tech University.
Schaeffer is originally from Vandergrift, Penn. and played six seasons (461 games) in the Rockies minor league system reaching Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2011.
Lee Stevens will return as hitting coach and be joined on Schaeffer's staff by Steve Merriman who will be the team's pitching coach.
Hartford Yard Goats Managers
- 2016 Darin Everson
- 2017 Jerry Weinstein
- 2018 Warren Schaeffer
- 2019 Warren Schaeffer
