Catch 52!

Thursday, December 02 2010 @ 11:02 PM EST

Contributed by: #2JBrumfield

The most surprising move in the Jays minor league managerial shuffle involved the recently retired Mike Redmond being named the new manager of the Lansing Lugnuts.  The 13-year major league veteran replaces fellow former major league backstop Sal Fasano, who moves up to Double-A with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.



Mike Redmond in the Indians bullpen prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Energy Field May 5th.



Mike Redmond lifts the mask as he tries to locate a foul ball hit by the Jays Alex Gonzalez.

A native of Seattle, Mike Redmond began his major league career with the Florida Marlins in 1998 and hung around long enough to earn a World Series ring in 2003.  After one more year in Miami, he got his burn notice and went to Minnesota where he played until 2009.  The 39 year-old joined Cleveland by signing a one-year deal in 2010 but was voted out of the Tribe to make room for catcher/outfielder Chris Gimenez near mid-July. 



Mike Redmond looks toward the Indians dugout while Aaron Hill digs in at the plate.
Redmond spent the majority of his career as a back-up catcher as he only appeared in 80-plus games four times in his 13 seasons.  His career fielding percentage of .996 entering 2010 put him ahead of Joe Mauer (.996), A.J. Pierzynski (.995), and Brad Ausmus among active catchers.  Redmond also threw out 32 percent of base runners trying to steal against him. 

Even though he hit just .206 and .237 in his final two seasons with the Indians and Twins respectively, Redmond was pretty decent with the stick by posting a career .287 batting average along with a .342 on-base percentage and a .357 slugging mark.  He hit a career best .341 in his first season in Minnesota in 2005 and recorded two seasons of .370-plus OBP with Florida in 2001 and 2002.  The 2001 campaign also saw Redmond hit a season high four home runs among his 13 career bombs.

The Lansing State Journal spoke with Redmond and Charlie Wilson, the Jays director of minor league operations, to talk about the Lugnuts coaching staff.

In other minor league notes...

As mentioned, Sal Fasano is the new man in Manchester for the Fisher Cats.  Kevin Gray of the New Hampshire Union Leader caught up with the former Jay to get his thoughts on managing at Double-A.  Also with the Fisher Cats, they are changing things up with their uniforms for the third time in their eight-year history.  The style of the current uniforms will stay the same but the colours have been changed to blue, red, and white.  You can check out the new look here.

Also...

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