FARGO, ND — The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball (AA) announced today that Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks manager Jim Bennett has been named the American Association’s Manager of the Year.
In his first year as manager of the RedHawks, Bennett has guided the team to a 63-37 record and back to the postseason for the first time since 2013. The RedHawks lead the league in batting average (.294) and pitching ERA at 3.74.
“Firstly, you don’t get ‘manager of the year’ without the players getting it done day in and day out.” Bennett said Thursday. “Secondly, I’m surrounded by a great coaching staff! They are all a part of this award. So, thank you to my staff and players for all they have done this season. It’s been a blast going through the grind with these guys all season long!”
Besides being the third manager in the franchise’s history, this is Bennett’s first time as a manager in his coaching career, which started in 1992 as a pitching coach with the Lethbridge Mounties. Recently, he was named the pitching coach for the Australian National Baseball Team, which will compete in the WBSC Premier 12 Tournament in late 2019.
“On behalf of the organization, I congratulate Jim on the success of the RedHawks 2019 season.” said Brad Thom, RedHawks President and CEO. “When we hired Jim this year, the biggest expectation we had for him was to get this team back to the playoffs and contend for a league championship”. So far, he’s got us back in the playoffs and I’m excited to see us hopefully make it to the next round.”