A long-term and very well-respected member of the Pittsburgh Pirates staff has been let go amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday, Jeff Banister was one of the 15 organizational members let go in the most recent round of layoffs.
Banister was selected by the Pirates in the 25th round of the 1986 MLB Draft. In just one career major league at-bat in July of 1991, Banister recorded a single, giving him a lifetime 1.000 batting average.
Following his short playing career, Banister served as a minor league manager throughout the organization from 1994 to 1998. Prior to the 1999 season, Banister was named the team's major league field coordinator, a position he held through the 2002 campaign.
After a return to the Pirates minor league system, Banister was named the team's interim bench coach in August of 2010. When manager John Russell was fired after a 105-loss season in 2010, Banister was a finalist for the vacant position. He ultimately lost the job to Clint Hurdle, but Banister was named the team's bench coach, which he served as through the 2014 season.
Following the 2014 season, Banister was interviewed for the managerial openings of both the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. He was eventually hired by Texas, and success came right away for the newly-appointed major league manager.
In his first two seasons (2015, 2016) with Texas, Banister won two American League West titles and led the Rangers to the American League Division Series both times, even earning the American League's top seed in 2016. Nonetheless, they were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays in both instances.
In his latter two seasons (2017, 2018) in Arlington, Banister's success tailed off. A 78-84 mark in 2017 and a miserable 64-88 record in 2018 led to Banister's firing with just 10 games left in the 2018 season. In his almost four years with the Rangers, Banister netted a 325-313 record (.509 W%).
Prior to the 2019 season, Banister came back to Pittsburgh, where he was named a special assistant in baseball operations.
Following the 2019 season, Banister was a strong candidate to replace Clint Hurdle as the team's manager, but the job was eventually awarded to Derek Shelton. Banister also interviewed in Houston again following their firing of A.J. Hinch, but they granted the position to Dusty Baker.
Banister was expected to fulfill the same role he did in 2019 prior to being laid off.
Comments