Well the Ironpigs now have a new manager in Ryne Sandberg and a couple days ago we found out that Hitting coach Greg Gross was replaced by Sal Rende.
My first thought was.. Who is Sal Rende? Minor league fans often find themselves asking these questions in the off season and thanks to baseball reference online I found some answers.
Infielder Sal Rende was drafted in the 28th round of the 1977 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians. He played seven seasons in the minors, mostly with the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Rende was a manager in the minors for twelve seasons between 1984 and 1996. His teams finished with the best record four times and won four league titles in his first seven seasons. His teams finished no higher than 4th in his last five seasons. In 1999-2001 he was a coach for the Calgary Cannons. He was a coach for the Columbus Clippers in 2003, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 2004-2006 and the Ottawa Lynx in 2007. In 2008-2010, Rende was the Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2011, he will be the hitting coach for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Rende has been involved in some personality conflicts of note. Carl Everett had a confrontation with Rende that led to Everett being ousted from the Florida Marlins organization. In 2003 Bucky Dent wanted to fire Rende from the Clippers over the handling of Drew Henson and Dent had to be talked out of quitting when the Columbus GM wouldn’t get rid of Rende.
Rende most recently managed in the Edmonton Trappers(Pacific Coast League) in 1993-94 and the Charlotte Knights in 1995-96. Only one of those teams finished with a winning record.
Looking at notes around the web it looks like Rende might bring a fire to the bench at The Coke that Greg Gross didn’t appear to.
Here’s to 2011!
OinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 