Lehigh Valley IronPigs get a new manager

Lehigh Valley IronPigs

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Phillies announced that Anthony Contreras, a long-time member of the San Diego Padres organization, is the new IronPigs manager. This will be Contreras’s first managerial post in Triple-A.

The 38-year-old from Los Gatos, California, recently managed the Fort Wayne TinCaps in High-A Central. He spent seven seasons as a manager in the Padres organization, five of them in Fort Wayne (2016-21). In Fort Wayne, Contreras became the all-time winning manager with 310 wins and two playoff appearances.

In his playing career, he was drafted in the ninth round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants out of San Jose State University. Contreras played nine seasons in the minor and independent leagues with 2,440 plate appearances, a .257 BA, .292 OBP, .342 SLG, and 22 home runs.

Contreras replaces Gary Jones, who managed the IronPigs from 2018-21 and was the 2018 International League Manager of the Year. He becomes the sixth manager in team history, joining Dave Huppert (2008-10), Ryne Sandberg (2011-12), Dave Brundage (2013-16), Dusty Wathan (2017), and Jones (2018-21).

The IronPigs open the 2022 season on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022, against the Columbus Clippers.

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My name is Michael Heilman. I'm the Founder of BGMSportsTrax. An independent blog dedicated to covering regional and national sports, while presenting commentary on sports-related stories.