After leading the Buffalo Bisons to their first division title since 2005 last season, Casey Candaele will return as the club's manager in 2022. The parent Toronto Blue Jays confirmed the expected news Monday when they announced their full minor-league coaching roster, news that was delayed by the MLB lockout.
The Bisons' home schedule opens Tuesday, April 5 and will now end Saturday, Sept. 24.
Candaele, a popular player for the Bisons from 1995-97, was named the Triple-A East Co-Manager of the Year in 2021 for guiding the Herd to a 71-46 record and the championship of the Northeast Division in a season that saw the Bisons play home games from May through July in Trenton, N.J. The Bisons then went 8-1 in the Triple-A Final Stretch tournament.
Candaele is the first man to win a division title for the Bisons as both a player and manager in their modern era dating to 1985.
The entire coaching staff will also return, with three-time World Series champion Devon White reprising his role as position coach and becoming the longest-tenured coach in the modern era.
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White is in his fifth season with the Herd, and his fourth year as position coach after serving as hitting coach in 2017. The seven-time Gold Glove centerfielder primarily works with the Herd's outfielders and baserunners. He won World Series rings with Toronto in 1992 and 1993, and Florida in 1997.
Corey Hart returns for his fourth season as hitting coach and Jeff Ware is back for his second stint as pitching coach. Jake McGuiggan returns for his second year as development coach, and he also coached first base much of last season.
Ware directed a Buffalo pitching staff that posted the second-best overall ERA in Triple-A last season with a 3.46 mark, as well as a 2.83 bullpen ERA that led Triple-A. Buffalo hitters under Hart batted .262 and recorded the third-fewest strikeouts in Triple-A East.
The Bisons host their first April home opener since 2019 when they meet the Iowa Cubs on April 5 in Sahlen Field. It will be the teams' first meeting since Buffalo swept Iowa in the 1997 American Association championship series to win its first league title in 36 years.
