FARGO–The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball (AAPB) has named Chris Coste as the league’s 2022 Manager of the Year. An internal vote among General Managers, Field Managers, Media Directors, and Broadcasters selected the winners for all 2022 Postseason Awards.
Coste is in his third season as manager and fifth season with the team’s coaching staff. He joined the team in 2018 as hitting and bench coach before being named interim manager in 2020. On April 21, 2021, Coste was named the team’s fourth manager in RedHawks history. In his three years as manager of the RedHawks, Coste is 153-106 (.591) in 259 regular season games and 4-6 (.400) in the postseason, guiding the team to its first appearance in the AAPB Finals in 2021.
“It’s a well-deserved honor for not only Chris but the entire coaching staff,” said Brad Thom, RedHawks President/CEO. “Players love playing for him, and Chris is the utmost professional. We are proud to have him at the helm of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.”
He has one of the unique stories in baseball as he started his professional career in 1995 playing for the Brainerd Bears in the North Central League and the Brandon Grey Owls in the Prairie League. The Fargo native played for the RedHawks from the team’s start in 1996 until 1999. He was named to the Northern League All-Star Team in 1997, 1998, and 1999 and helped lead the RedHawks to the team’s first Northern League title in 1998. Coste had a .322 batting average with 429 hits, 44 home runs, and 221 RBIs in 335 games with the RedHawks. In 1999, Coste signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates but was released after spring training and returned to the RedHawks. The Cleveland Indians purchased his contract in 2000. He spent six seasons in the minor leagues before making his MLB Debut for the Philadelphia Phillies on May 26, 2006, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Coste won a World Series championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and became the first player from the Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to win a World Series ring. In addition, he played in affiliated baseball for the Phillies, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, and Cleveland Indians organizations. Coste appeared in a total of 299 Major League Baseball games between the Phillies and Astros and had a career MLB average of .272.
This is Coste’s first AAPB Manager of the Year award. He joins former manager Jim Bennett (2019) as RedHawks managers who have won the award since joining the AAPB, and Doug Simunic, who was named the Northern League’s Manager of the year six times (1996, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008) during his managerial career with the team.
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