We have personnel news today for the Auburn Doubledays (short season A; NY-Penn League), MiLB, the Pawtucket Red Sox (Class AAA; International League) and the Lake Erie Crushers (independent; Frontier League).
First: Kenny Lindberg is the new Operations Manager for the Doubledays. Originally from Meadville, Pennsylvania, Lindberg most recently worked for the Jamestown Jammers, also of the New York-Penn League, serving as a Front Office Associate. He also spent time as an Inside Sales Representative with the Erie Otters of the Canadian Hockey League and the Elmira Pioneers (summer collegiate; Perfect Game League).
“I am looking forward to getting involved in the city of Auburn and the opportunity to start something special with the Doubledays as we move into a new chapter of Auburn baseball history.” Lindberg said, “One of my biggest goals and expectations is to make our home games among the best and most entertaining in all of Minor League Baseball.”
Lindberg received a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Management from Medaille College in Buffalo, where he also worked within the school’s athletic department, primarily with the hockey, volleyball, and basketball teams.
“Kenny will be a great asset to the Auburn Doubledays organization,” said General Manager Mike Voutsinas. “His sales background and experience in Minor League sports make him an excellent addition to our staff.”
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Rick Muntean is the new General Manager of the Lake Erie Crushers, as announced today by team owner Steven Edelson.
A Youngstown native, Muntean has been in the baseball world for 30 years. Muntean was the Vice President and General Manager of the Kansas City T-Bones a constituent of the American Association. Muntean spent 15 years as the General Manager and Assistant General Manager for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons (Class AAA; International League). Muntean graduated Ohio University with a Communications degree after transferring from Youngstown State where he pitched two seasons for the Penguins. Most recently Rick was the Chief Operations Officer and General Manager of the St. Joseph Mustangs (summer collegiate; M.I.N.K. League).
“It’s great to be coming home,” Muntean said. “It’s been 33 years since I last lived in Ohio. To have the opportunity to be here at All Pro Freight Stadium and in the Cleveland market is a dream come true.
“We are going to make the Lake Erie Crushers a household name here in Northeast Ohio,” he added.
“After an extensive search to find the right person to lead the Crushers, I have been very fortunate to have secured the services of Rick Muntean,” Edelson said. “Rick is a proven GM with many years in the industry of repeated success. The ownership is very much looking forward to having him lead the day to day activities of the Lake Erie Crushers.”
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Josh Maurer is a new radio broadcaster for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Maurer will join Jeff Levering, who returns for his second season as lead play-by-play voice, as the duo will broadcast all 144 PawSox games on 920 WHJJ and the 12-station PawSox Radio Network. Maurer was chosen among more than 100 nationwide applicants to, in essence, replace Bob Socci, who left the PawSox last July to become the radio play-by-play broadcaster of the New England Patriots.
Maurer, who just turned 33 on February 20, has spent the past two seasons as the radio broadcaster for the Trenton Thunder (Class AA; Eastern League). He is also currently the radio voice for the football and men’s basketball teams at the University of Massachusetts, a position he has held since 2008.
Josh is in the midst of his sixth season with the Minutemen basketball team after completing his sixth season with the football team last fall. He worked full time for UMass as their Assistant Athletic Director for Broadcasting from August 2008 until March of 2012 before he joined Trenton for the 2012 baseball season. He has maintained his role as radio play-by-play man and sometimes television voice of UMass football and basketball during the baseball off-season and will continue to do so once the 2014 PawSox season ends in September.
Maurer broke into Minor League Baseball in 2005 as the radio play-by-play broadcaster of the Charleston RiverDogs (Low Class A; Sally League). He was with the RiverDogs for four seasons (2005-2008) and during the baseball off-season he also did radio work for the Charleston Southern University football and men’s basketball teams (2006-2008).
Josh received his degree in Broadcast Journalism with a Minor in Sport Marketing from the University of Maryland in 2003. A native of Lower Merion, PA (just outside of Philadelphia), he has spent the past six fall and winters living in Amherst, MA while calling UMass games.
He has production experience working for ESPN (Washington, D.C. branch) as a Production Assistant for “Pardon the Interruption” from 2001-2003 and as a Production Assistant on the Philadelphia Phillies Television Network in 2004. Maurer has been honored by the AP each of the past four years for “Best College Sports Play-by-Play” in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island region.
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Minor League Baseball announced today that Dusty Dellinger, who has been a full-time Field Evaluator/Instructor with Professional Baseball Umpire Corp. (PBUC) since 2008, has been appointed as its Interim Director. Dellinger fills the role previously held by Justin Klemm, who recently accepted a position with Major League Baseball as Director of Instant Replay.
“I look forward to working with the rest of the PBUC staff and the league presidents in training our umpires so that they can provide the best possible experiences for Minor League Baseball players, on-field staff and fans, while also developing candidates for positions in Major League Baseball,” Dellinger said.
Prior to joining PBUC, Dellinger umpired in the New York-Penn (1997), South Atlantic (1998), Carolina (1999), Southern (2000-02), International (2003-07), and Arizona Fall (2004-05) Leagues. He also umpired part-time in the Major Leagues (2004-07) and the Puerto Rican Winter League (2002, 2006) and was selected to umpire in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006.
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