MANCHESTER, NH – On Thursday, February 13, the Toronto Blue Jays released all their Minor League coaching staff assignments for the 2025 season. For the first time since 2021, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats feature a fresh face at the helm. Brent Lavallee becomes the 12th Fisher Cats manager since the team’s first season in 2004. Lavallee, the 2024 Northwest League Manager of the Year, replaces Cesar Martin, who led the Fisher Cats for the past four seasons.

Martin leaves the Fisher Cats as the organization’s all-time winningest manager with 225 victories over his four seasons. Lavallee, who steered High-A Vancouver to the Northwest League Finals in all three years as manager, takes Martin’s place after he compiled a 212-177 record and helped deliver the Canadiens a championship in 2023.

Joining Lavallee on the Fisher Cats coaching staff are returners Mitch Huckabay (hitting coach), Jake McGuiggan (bench coach), Delta Cleary Jr. (position coach), Roelvis Vargas (head athletic trainer) and Austin Bibens-Dirkx (pitching coach). Bibens-Dirkx, who appeared in 49 games with the Fisher Cats from 2013 through 2015, becomes the first alum to serve as New Hampshire's pitching coach. He joined the Blue Jays organization as a coach after a long career, including a stint in the Majors with the Texas Rangers.

First-timers in Manchester include Thomas Caulfield (bullpen coach), Bailey Forst (strength & conditioning coach), Edwin Ortiz (assistant strength & conditioning coach), Matthew Beauregard (assistant athletic trainer), Stephanie Boville (nutritionist) and Adam Gurin (technology assistant).

A native of North Delta, British Columbia, Canada, Lavallee (luh-VALLEY) ventured 3,000 miles away from home to LSU Shreveport for a full-ride scholarship. Over the course of 15 years, Lavallee traversed the ranks of the Pilots baseball program as a player, assistant coach, and manager. Lavallee made his managerial pro debut with Toronto in the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in 2021. 2025 will be Lavallee’s fifth summer in the Blue Jays organization.

The last time Austin Bibens-Dirkx donned a Fisher Cats uniform was September 6, 2015, when he fired seven innings and struck out eight batters to earn the win in Trenton. The former big-leaguer Bibens-Dirkx is set to return to New Hampshire, this time as pitching coach, and becomes the sixth Fisher Cats alum to return to Manchester in a coaching role. Born in Salem, Oregon, Bibens-Dirkx appeared in 49 games with the Fisher Cats from 2013 through 2015 ahead of his Major League debut in 2017. As pitching coach in Vancouver in 2024, Bibens-Dirkx oversaw a staff that sported 14 shutout victories and the second-lowest WHIP (1.30) in the Northwest League.

Hitting coach Mitch Huckabay is back for his third season with the Fisher Cats in 2025 and will be reunited with the new manager Lavallee. Huckabay joined Toronto’s organization from the college ranks in 2023. Prior to tenures at Sam Houston State, Northeast Texas CC and Vernon College, Huckabay was on Lavallee’s staff at LSU Shreveport in 2018 and 2019 for his first full-time coaching role, where the two helped the Pilots win back-to-back Red River Athletic Conference regular-season championships.

Bench coach Jake McGuiggan returns to the Fisher Cats for his second season in the same role in New Hampshire. A native New Englander from Hingham, Massachusetts, McGuiggan joined the Fisher Cats staff in 2024 after spending the prior three seasons as development coach with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Beginning as a Minor League Video Assistant with the Blue Jays, McGuiggan has been a member of Toronto’s organization since 2018. McGuiggan attended Harvard University and slashed .347/.362/.504 in his senior campaign with the Crimson in 2015.

Delta Cleary Jr. is back for his second year with the Fisher Cats in 2025 as position coach. From Jonesboro, Arkansas, Cleary Jr. was named an NJCAA All-American and helped lead LSU Eunice to win the 2008 NJCAA Division II World Series. The Colorado Rockies selected Cleary Jr. in the 37th Round of the 2008 MLB Draft and would eventually play in 699 games across a seven-year career in the Minors with the Rockies and Washington Nationals. Cleary Jr. also played in the Mexican Pacific and Venezuelan Winter Leagues in between seasons with the Long Island Ducks from 2015 through 2017.

Thomas Caulfield joins the Fisher Cats coaching staff as bullpen coach in 2025, his first year in the Blue Jays organization. Previous to this season, Caulfield joined the Saint Mary’s College baseball coaching staff in July 2023. Caulfield played collegiately at Skyline College and Chicago State before transferring to the University of San Francisco. The Burlingame, California native spent three seasons in the Pioneer League and Frontier League and ended his playing days with the Spire City Ghost Hounds in the MLB-Partner Atlantic League.

Roelvis Vargas returns for his second season in New Hampshire in 2025 as head athletic trainer. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in North Carolina, Vargas received his degree in Athletic Training, Sports Science from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and earned his Master’s in Human Performance and Injury Prevention from California University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Blue Jays since 2018, Vargas has spent time in the Dominican Summer League, Bluefield, Dunedin and Vancouver. Matt Beauregard joins Vargas as an assistant after serving 15 years as an athletic trainer in Cleveland’s organization.

Head strength & conditioning coach Bailey Forst and assistant Edwin Ortiz both make the journey to Manchester for their first seasons with the Fisher Cats. Forst comes to Manchester after joining Vancouver last season and had previously been in a similar role at Western Carolina University. Ortiz earned his Bachelor’s in Sports Technology from Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico in 2012 and was a strength coach with Los Indios de Mayagüez from 2013 through 2015. Before Toronto, Ortiz was in a similar role in the Detroit Tigers organization from 2016 through 2018.

Nutritionist Stephanie Boville and technology assistant Adam Gurin will spend their first seasons with the Fisher Cats in 2025. Boville joined Toronto as their Affiliate Performance Dietitian in April 2024 and worked alongside the Canadian World Junior team from 2014 to 2016 while she earned her Master’s degree of Science in Exercise Nutrition and Metabolism in 2015. Gurin graduated from Rice University with a double major with a BA in Statistics, a BS in Sports Management: Data Analytics and minored in Data Science and Business. Prior to joining Toronto, Gurin served as Baseball Technology Coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles in the Florida Complex League in 2024.

Opening Day 2025 for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats is Friday, April 4 at Delta Dental Stadium against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Fans can purchase 2025 multi-game memberships and single-game tickets at nhfishercats.com, via email at info@nhfishercats.com, by phone at (603) 641-2005, and in-person at the Fisher Cats box office on 1 Line Drive in Manchester.

About the New Hampshire Fisher Cats

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and play their games at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester. Over 160 former Fisher Cats have reached the Major League level. The Fisher Cats have raised millions of dollars for various charities through the Fisher Cats Foundation and continuously strive to improve the quality of life for Granite State residents. The organization has been recognized as New Hampshire Business Review’s “Best Sporting Event to Take Clients to”, Parenting New Hampshire Magazine’s “New Hampshire’s Favorite Sporting Event for Families”, and New Hampshire Magazine’s “Best New Hampshire Sports Team”. For more information on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, please visit nhfishercats.com, call (603) 641-2005, or contact Chris Jared via email at cjared@nhfishercats.com.