My Thoughts on the Silver Hawks Staff

As we wind down the 2010 year, I wanted to take a minute to look ahead to 2011 and the Silver Hawks coaching staff that was announced last week.

The return of Mark Haley for a seventh season doesn't get a lot of publicity in the South Bend area, because year-in and year-out it is assumed that he will be back again.  He lives in nearby Granger, and is proud to manage his hometown team.

However, when you look around the rest of the Midwest League, you will see that more than half of the teams have new managers.  Of those returning, none have been with their teams for as long as four years, let alone going on a seventh season.

"Hales" is a great baseball manager and should be celebrated a lot more for his dedication to the Silver Hawks.  We retired his uniform number last year, meaning no one but him will ever wear #51 again.  He's approaching 500 wins with South Bend alone, and is over 500 for his managing career. 

That's not to say I always agree with every move he makes (anyone who listens to me regularly knows that I wish he would sacrifice bunt more).  However, when you look around the Minor League Baseball landscape and see other managers come to town in April and leave in September without getting involved with the community, be grateful that the Silver Hawks have a manager who is unquestionably dedicated to both the Silver Hawks team and the Michiana community.

As for the other coaches, Wellington Cepeda is very similar to Mark Haley.  "Beef", as he is affectionately nicknamed, has been a coach in South Bend four previous years, and this will be his fifth.  I'm not qualified to evaluate how well he handles the pitchers, but as you look at the long list of his former players that are making the big leagues, I think that speaks volumes for his talents as a coach.

Hitting coach Bobby Smith will be new to coaching in 2011, so we don't have a lot to go by here.  However, including parts of five seasons in the majors, he had a 14-year professional baseball career (the vast majority in the minors).  Sometimes it is guys like that who are the best teachers, because they have been around long enough to fail, succeed, fail again, succeed again, etc.  I'm excited to meet him and see how he works with the young hitters.