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Pat Kelly named 2018 Louisville Bats manager

By Ryan Ritchey
January 16, 2018

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Cincinnati Reds have named long-time minor league manager Pat Kelly manager of the Louisville Bats for the 2018 season. Kelly has spent the past three seasons as manager of the Reds' Double-A affiliate Pensacola Blue Wahoos compiling a 218-200 (.522) record. The 2017 Blue Wahoos were

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Cincinnati Reds have named long-time minor league manager Pat Kelly manager of the Louisville Bats for the 2018 season. Kelly has spent the past three seasons as manager of the Reds' Double-A affiliate Pensacola Blue Wahoos compiling a 218-200 (.522) record. The 2017 Blue Wahoos were co-champions of the Southern League.
Kelly replaces Delino DeShields, who went 191-239 as the manager of the Bats. It is not yet known where DeShields will land within the Reds organization.
Louisville will be Kelly's fifth stop in his Reds minor league managerial career. Before Pensacola, Kelly managed Class Bakersfield in 2014 and at Rookie Billings from 2011-2013 where he was 2012 Pioneer League Manager of the Year. In 2010, Kelly was the manager at Class A Lynchburg and prior to that, he spent the majority of three seasons as manager of the Rookie GCL Reds.
Joining Kelly is Leon "Bull" Durham as hitting coach. Durham spent the last 17 seasons in the Detroit Tigers organization. Durham was the assistant hitting coach for the Tigers in 2017 but spent the previous 16 seasons as the hitting coach of the Tigers' International League Toledo Mud Hens. Durham played 59 games for the Louisville Redbirds in 1989 hitting .287 with 10 home runs and also played 21 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1988.
Also new on staff is bench coach Dick Schofield. Schofield made his Major League debut 1983 and played 1,368 games with the California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers through 1996.
Returning to Louisville is pitching coach Jeff Fassero. Fassero took over as pitching coach in July of 2016 following Ted Power's promotion to Cincinnati. Before joining the Bats, Fassero was the pitching coach for the Blue Wahoos from 2014-2015, the 2015 season with Pat Kelly.
The Bats begin their 2018 season on Friday, April 6 against the Toledo Mud Hens. The 2018 season will be both the Bats' 19th season at Louisville Slugger Field and their 19th season as the top affiliate of the Reds. The entire 2018 Bats schedule can be found at batsbaseball.com. Full and partial season tickets, along with group outings and suite rentals are available by calling the Bats front office at 502-212-2287.