Morandini Named Williamsport Manager

3. Williamsport

The off-season news keeps on coming in what has been a busy week,  with former Phillie second baseman Mickey Morandini set to become the coach of the Low A Short Season Williamsport Crosscutters, according to Jim Peters of the Northwest Indiana Times.  Morandini had been the head baseball coach at Valpariso High School in Indiana, where he lives with his family. Morandini commented to Peters that “part of the reason I didn’t do it earlier was that I wanted to see my children grow up and coach them…I have done that almost the last 8 years.  The Phillies contacted me almost every year since I retired. I told them that eventually I wanted to get back in it. I am not getting any younger, so I figured this was a good time to do it.

Morandini who is a Pennsylvania native, is now 44 and has been out of professional baseball (other than spending some time instructing at Phils Spring Training) since retiring in 2000 after spending 11 seasons in the major leagues.   A thank you goes out to Mandy Housenick of the Allentown Morning Call for sending this information our way.

15 thoughts on “Morandini Named Williamsport Manager”

  1. Sweet to see some former Phils favs returning to the fold.

    Long-timr fans will be pleased to have them back,

    By the way, your headline has Mickey coming back as “Manager” but the article says he’s coming back as a coach…???

    Welcome, Mickey. It’s a shame that Harry won’t be calling him his full name which Harry reveled in mouthing:” Meeky Mor-a-dini”

    Looking forward to his being part of the ML coaching clan…in Philly.

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  7. Truby actually managed Williamsport the last two seasons. Had them in the playoff race two years ago before injuries hurt them in the last couple weeks, and then he had them in it to the last day this season. Truby is going to be a good fit in the organization somewhere. He just finds a way to get the most out of his players.

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  9. I can’t imagine a more difficult job than Williamsport manager. You’ve got 30 players instead of 25, many of them either spending their first season in organized ball, or latin players leaving Florida for the first time. None of them have track records so you have no idea what to expect from them on the diamond. And you still have to give playing time to the underperformers. Beyond all that, Williamsport plays in an old ballpark and the facilities are perhaps less than ideal. (Though Bowman Field has surprisingly good restrooms, so they might have built a good locker room too. Never been in it.)

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  10. Nice hire. I was always a fan of Morandini (and really, if your name is Mickey, you are going to be a baseball player. It’s a fact – the same goes with the name Gordie and hockey) and I wish the best for him. I get the feeling he will be a good manager.

    – Jeff

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  11. W-port is actually moving to West Chester in a few years so Philly fans will be able to see them play easier. Mickey looks like a great fit back in the organization full time. Does the W-port staff work daily with the players at Extended ST in Florida? I assume they do. If so, they spend a great deal of time teaching before the season starts. Mickey would add to an impressive list of Philly minor league managers who all look to be getting groomed for major league service, just like the players. I’ve never seen that before, very interesting.

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