January 10, 2019 –The Toronto Blue Jays today announced that BOBBY MEACHAM will return as Buffalo Bisons manager for a third consecutive season. He will once again be joined by hitting coachCOREY HART and position coach DEVON WHITE, while DOUG MATHIS will make his Blue Jays’ organizational debut as the Herd’s pitching coach.
Athletic trainer BOB TARPEY and strength and conditioning coach BRIAN PIKE will also return to serve their second seasons on the Bisons coaching staff.
Meacham, the 20th manager in the Bisons modern era, has guided the Bisons to a 126-153 record over his first two seasons on the bench. One of only three players to both play for and manage the team in the modern era (Torey Lovullo, Joel Skinner), Meacham is entering the 29th season of his coaching career with 12 years of experience as a minor league manager.
The 2019 season will be Meacham’s seventh as a manager in the Blue Jays organization with stops at Single-A Dunedin (2013) and Double-A New Hampshire (2014-2016). In 2015, he received the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in player development within the Blue Jays organization. Meacham also managed at the Triple-A level in 1995, as he led Pittsburgh’s Calgary Cannons (Pacific Coast League) in the first year after the Pirates’ affiliation with the Bisons. He has a career managerial record of 691-779.
Meacham’s coaching career also includes six years at the Major League level serving as a third base coach for Florida (2006) and the New Yankees (2008) and first base coach for San Diego (2007) and Houston (2010-2012). As a player, Meacham spent parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues (1983-88) with the New York Yankee and spent the second-to-last season of his playing career in Buffalo, hitting .218 with 25 RBI in 94 games for the 1989 Bisons.
Hart is entering his second season with the Bisons and his fourth as a coach in the Blue Jays organization. Buffalo hit .249 as a team last year (T9th in the IL) with a league-best 124 stolen bases and 573 runs scored in 138 games. He spent the first two years of his Blue Jays career at Single-A Dunedin, where he helped the club win a Florida State League title in 2017. Hart has also coached in the Brewers organization from 2006-2009 and with Marlins affiliates from 2010-2015.
Hart is a veteran of eight minor league seasons as a player 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 23rdround of 1998 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oklahoma.
Mathis joins the Blue Jays organization after two years as a coach in the Seattle Mariners organization, both as the pitching coach for the Single-A Clinton LumberKings. Last year, his pitching staff at Clinton ranked 2nd in the Midwest League with 1,263 strikeouts in 139 games.
A former 13th round selection by Texas in the 2005 MLB Draft, Mathis pitched in 10 professional seasons and appeared in 45 Major League games over three seasons with the Rangers (2008-10). The righty also pitched professionally in South Korea and Japan during his career as well as for Pawtucket, Indianapolis and Durham of the International League.
White will be entering his third season as a coach for the Bisons and his second as a positional coach for the team. In his coaching career, White also served as the outfielder and baserunning coordinator in the Nationals farm system from 2008-2010 and as the minor league baserunning coordinator for the White Sox from 2011-2012.
White spent five seasons of his 17-year Major League playing career with the Blue Jays, helping the club to their back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993. He won a Gold Glove in each of his five years with Toronto and was an American League All-Star for the Blue Jays in 1993. Overall, ‘Devo’ averaged .263 with 1,934 hits, 208 home runs, 846 RBI and 346 stolen bases playing for six Major League teams from 1985-2001. He won his third World Series Championship with the Florida Marlins in 1997.
Both Tarpey and Pike are entering their second seasons with the Bisons. Tarpey joined the Blue Jays organization in 2006 and was Minor League Baseball’s 2014 Athletic Trainer of the Year. Pikespent nine seasons as the strength and conditioning coach at Double-A New Hampshire (2009-2017), meaning he has worked together with Tarpey since the 2010 season.
-the herd-
Filed under: Buffalo Bisons
Tagged with: Bobby Meacham, Buffalo Bisons
Sorry, comments are closed on this post.