Vibes Hire Les Lancaster as Field Manager

The Rocky Mountain Vibes are proud to announce the hiring of Les Lancaster as Field Manager

January 31, 2023

The Rocky Mountain Vibes are proud to announce the hiring of Les Lancaster as field manager through the 2025 Pioneer Baseball League season. A two-time draftee, Lancaster played in the majors with the Chicago Cubs (1987-1991), the Detroit Tigers (1992), and the St. Louis Cardinals (1993) in addition to an extended career pitching in independent league and international teams. He has been in coaching since 1996 in independent, affiliated, and international leagues. Most recently in 2022, Lancaster was Pitching Coach with the Ogden Raptors and Pitching Coach with the Bravos de Margarita of the Venezuelan Winter League. In his time in independent ball, he has a long record of moving players to MLB systems.

"I am very excited for the opportunity to be named the manager of the Rocky Mountain Vibes. It will be wonderful to be in the great city of Colorado Springs. I look forward to meeting all the Vibes fans and putting together a competitive team that they will enjoy watching. On behalf of the coaching staff and myself, 'Let's play ball!'"

- Les Lancaster, Rocky Mountain Vibes Field Manager

Joining Lancaster on his staff are David Peterson, who will be the Pitching Coach, Rafael Melchione, who will be the Hitting Coach, and Jason Hurst, who will be an Assistant Coach.

"Today's announcement is an important step in unlocking the full potential of our ball club. Les's network spanning back to his playing days is vital to the development of our young players and will help build on our previous success of getting our guys signed to affiliated ball. I also want to thank Joe Mikulik and Dave Hajek for their work last season. They were instrumental in taking the club through last year's transition and setting the Vibes up for great success in 2023."

- Chris Jones, Rocky Mountain Vibes President & General Manager

"Les's long career in professional baseball as both a player and a manager has given him a wealth of experience. We are really excited to now have all that experience with us inside UCHealth Park and now in the first base dugout. Out two main goals are to develop players and win games; this hiring puts us in a great position to exceed in both of those."

- Aaron Griffith, Rocky Mountain Assistant General Manager

The 2023 Rocky Mountain Vibes season begins on May 23 on the road against the Northern Colorado Owlz and the Vibes will host their home opener a few nights later on Saturday, May 27. The Vibes are actively looking for host families for next season. Each family will receive season tickets and $200/month per player they host. For information please email Kay Goodell at kgoodell@vibesbaseball.com.

About the Pioneer Baseball League: Since 1939, the Pioneer Baseball League has operated in the Mountain West region as an MLB affiliate league. Beginning in 2021, the PBL became an MLB Professional Partner League with clubs in Montana (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, and Kalispell), Idaho (Boise and Idaho Falls), Utah (Ogden), and Colorado (Grand Junction, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs). For more information go to www.pioneerleague.com.

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