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2023 SOUTH BEND CUBS COACHING STAFF
Lance Rymel - Manager
Rymel returns for year two as Manager of the South Bend Cubs. In 2021 he was the Rookie League Mesa Cubs Manager. Later that year, he managed the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League and won the league title. This will be his eighth season as a coach or manager in the Cubs organization, where he also managed Single-A Eugene in 2019 following two seasons at the helm of the Cubs Dominican Summer League squad in 2017-18. Rymel began his coaching career in 2016 following a three-year minor league playing career as a catcher in the Cubs system from 2012-14. Rymel was selected by the Cubs in the 28th round of the 2012 Draft out of Rogers State.
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Clayton Mortensen - Pitching Coach
Mortensen spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons as the pitching coach for Low-A Myrtle Beach and will begin his third season in the Cubs organization. Mortensen spent 2019 as the Pitching Coach for the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League where his team won the 2019 Pioneer League championship. Mortensen was drafted by St. Louis in the first round (36th) of the 2007 draft and spent five years in Major League Baseball playing for St. Louis, Oakland, Colorado, and Boston.
Dan Puente - Hitting Coach
Puente returns as the hitting coach for South Bend. This marks Puente’s fourth season in the Cubs farm system. In 2021, Puente was the hitting coach for low-A Myrtle Beach. He has been a hitting and catching instructor at Elite Baseball Training since 2012, a technology-infused baseball and softball instructional company created by the Cubs Director of Hitting Justin Stone. Puente also served as an associate scout for the Houston Astros and from 2008-12 was the Manager of Youth Baseball Initiatives for the White. Sox. A former catcher, he was selected by Baltimore in the 12th round of the 2004 Draft and played two minor league seasons.
D’Angelo Jiménez - Bench Coach
D’Angelo Jiménez will continue to serve as the bench coach for the South Bend Cubs. He previously held the role of hitting coach for the DSL Cubs in 2021 and this will be his sixth season overall in the organization. Jiménez came up with the Yankees as a player and spent eight years playing in the MLB from 1999 to 2007, appearing with seven different teams. Primarily a Second Baseman, Jiménez would spend time at shortstop and third base.
