Manager role in Single-A suits Vandergrift's Schaeffer

When Warren Schaeffer was named manager of the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists in January, he came to a franchise that was coming off a South Atlantic League title.

That might seem like a lot of pressure for someone taking their first job as a manager in minor league baseball, but Schaeffer was more than up to the task.

With a largely new group of players in 2015, Schaeffer, a Vandergrift native, guided the Tourists — a Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies — back to the best-of-5 South Atlantic League championship series against Hickory beginning Monday.

“We're looking forward to (trying to get a championship), there's no doubt about that,” said Schaeffer, a 2003 Greensburg Central Catholic graduate. “I know our guys want to win, so that‘s not an issue. We've just got to go out and get the job done.”

The majority of the players who were in Asheville last season moved up to their next destination in minor league baseball, which gave Schaeffer the opportunity to work with a new group of prospects.

The Tourists' roster this season is dotted with players a year removed from high school. The young group got off to a slow start, finishing 32-38 in the first half of the season.

Asheville turned it around in the second half, going 40-29. They defeated Savannah, 2-1, in a best-of-3 series to reach the championship.

Schaeffer said his young players needed to get acclimated to playing a 140-game schedule.

“We're young, even for our league,” Schaeffer said. “So just with experience, I knew we would get better in the second half. We had to get our feet wet in the first half and learn how to take care of our bodies and all of that good stuff. We played much better defense in the second half, and we pitched better too. I guess the biggest thing is guys started to figure out themselves and what kind of player they are.”

Schaeffer played for Asheville in 2008, one of his many stops as a player in the Rockies organization. Colorado drafted Schaeffer in 2007 out of Virginia Tech. He retired from playing in 2013 to focus on coaching and spent the last two years at the hitting coach for the Tri-City Dust Devils.

Schaeffer, 30, is the youngest manager in the South Atlantic League. Like his players, he needed an adjustment period to get comfortable.

“There were some things I needed to learn, like coaching third base. That's a tough spot on the diamond to work down there; you've got a lot of big decisions to make,” Shaeffer said. “Then there's relating to the guys and creating a good atmosphere for them. I think that's something I can be pretty good at.”

The Tourists were involved in one very peculiar play this season.

On Sept. 1 against Charleston, a close play at the plate went against Asheville in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. Schaeffer went out to argue the call after the umpire called time, but another base runner came in to score during the argument and the umpire ruled the game was over. Asheville filed a successful appeal that the play should've been dead. The game resumed the next day with the score tied.

“We lucked out that it was on video. I kind of felt bad, because I didn't take care of it on the field. But I think subliminally, I saw him call time, and that's why I ran out there,” Schaeffer said. “It gets heated sometimes on a big play like that. I learned a lot from that situation.”

Towards the end of his career as a player in the minors, Schaeffer admitted that he wasn't having much fun, but now he's found his niche in the game he loves.

“I feel like everything I did playing-wise in my whole life has led me to this role. This is the most fun I've ever had in pro ball, that's for sure,” Schaeffer said. “It fits my personality well. I like the way things are going in this role moving forward.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.