From the Altoona Curve
After leading a championship campaign a year ago, Michael Ryan will return to manage the Altoona Curve for a second season in 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Senior Director of Minor League Operations Larry Broadway and the Curve announced on Tuesday.
Ryan, a native of nearby Indiana, Pa., will enter his sixth season as a minor league manager. Bryan Hickerson will return for a second season as the Curve’s pitching coach, and Keoni De Renne will take over as the team’s hitting coach.
“I’m honored to be coming back to that beautiful stadium to work with the Curve staff again this year,” Ryan said. “It’s extremely exciting. The expectations aren’t going to change. Our goal is to get these guys ready to perform in Pittsburgh, first of all. Our team is going to be really good. It’s just a matter of if they can handle a so-called target on their back.”
After leading the A-Adv. Bradenton Marauders to the Florida State League championship in 2016, Ryan and the Curve won the Eastern League championship in his first Double-A season in 2017. Ryan, 40, served as a coach on Altoona’s staff in 2012 and began his managerial career with the Single-A West Virginia Power from 2013-2014 before leading Bradenton the following two seasons. Over his five seasons as a manager in the Pirates’ minor league system, Ryan has compiled a 355-335 record.
“I’m sure a bunch of the core players will be back this season,” Ryan said. “It’s a close-knit group. They’re comfortable with me and I’m comfortable with them. That’s an advantage that we’re going to use.”
As a player, Ryan was drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Twins out of Indiana Area Senior High School in 1996, where he played baseball, basketball and football and was an all-state selection in football and baseball in 1996. Ryan played 15 professional seasons, including five in the majors. The former outfielder spent four seasons in the big leagues with the Twins from 2002-2005 and played for the Los Angeles Angels in 2010.
