Nationals Name 2021 Farm Managers, Coaches
It looks like we’re getting all the usual offseason stuff out this week. Yesterday, the Nationals announced its managers and coaches for 2021:
| Affiliate | Manager | Pitching Coach | Hitting Coach |
| Rochester | Matthew LeCroy | Michael Tejera | Brian Daubach |
| Harrisburg | Tripp Keister | Sam Narron | Brian Rupp |
| Wilmington | Tommy Shields | Justin Lord | Luis Ordaz |
| Fredericksburg | Mario Lisson | Pat Rice | Jorge Mejia |
| GCL | Jake Lowery | Franklin Bravo Larry Pardo |
Mark Harris |
| DSL | Sandy Martinez | Edwin Hurtado | Freddy Guzman |
Bold = New to the organization
Italics = New assignment
Perhaps the most notable is the return of Matthew LeCroy to the dugout, so those AAA and AAAA guys best run out those popups and ground balls!
Count Jake Lowery as the latest longtime backup catcher to become manager. If the name’s familiar, it’s because he spent the last four years of his nine-year career with Washington, mostly at Harrisburg. Lowery was drafted out of JMU by Cleveland in the 4th Rd. of the 2011 Draft.
Longtime High-A manager Tripp Keister moves up to AA while Tommy Shields takes his place to manage the new High-A affiliate in Wilmington. Shields still holds the title of co-field coordinator along with Jeff Garber, who is also the XST field manager.
The rest of the pitching and hitting coaches are largely the same as named for 2020 in December 2019, with Franklin Bravo and Mark Harris landing in Florida with the elimination of the SS-A level.
Cue Welcome Back Kotter theme for Jake Lowery
Time flies
Tempus Fugit
What are the player development brain trust thinking about the future of Fran Pegueryo??
I had to use the NP archives to get started but now my memory is refreshed. I remember in 2019 there was a lot of talk of Harrisburg’s great pitching coach and all the things he was doing there.
His name is Michael Tejera and this year he will be in Rochester. Born in Cuba he debuted in the show in 1999 and won the World Series in 2003 with the Marlins. Good to see he’s still with the organization.
Smart that there will be 2 pitching coaches in the GCL.
I was just about to post about Tejera as well. There were quite a lot of pitchers who “figured things out” at Harrisburg in 2018-19. It wasn’t coincidental.
I, too, heard about the great progress the AA pitchers made under Tejera’s guidance 2 years ago. After Menhart’s firing, I thought Tejera might move up to be the Nats’ pitching coach. Having him at AAA is even better, as he develops the pitching prospects for possible elevation to the Nats.