Jeff Banister Won’t Manage in Arizona Fall League

Pittsburgh Pirates Jeff Banister is the most intense batting practice pitcher in Major League Baseball. Photo: RumBunter.com

Jeff Banister has some things going on right now.  Namely trying to become the manager of the Texas Rangers.  Banister was planning on being the skipper for the Scottsdale Scorpions, but as Tom Singer wrote yesterday, the process that Banister is involved with right now simply ‘wouldn’t be fair to them.’

The ‘them’ that Banister is referring to is Tyler Glasnow, Josh Bell, Dan Gamache, Elias Diaz and the other young Pirates players who are in the desert this Fall working on getting one step closer to Major League Baseball.

The process is Banister needs to focus on becoming a Major League skipper.  Being involved in interviewing for the Texas job would simply take away from his job as the Scorpions skipper.  It was a smart decision–the only decision really.

Most people feel that Banister is in a very unique position and Banister has one man to beat to become the next skipper for the Rangers.  The second interviews are being conducted and if all goes well, Banny might just be staying in his home state of Texas.

Regarding the Texas job, Banister said this in the Singer article:

"“All I can say for now, out of respect to [Texas GM Joe Daniels] and his entire staff, it’s still an ongoing process,” Banister said. “I did have a tremendous time with them in Texas. That’s a great group of baseball men, really passionate about the game. We had a good conversation, and I could tell they love to talk baseball.”"

To clarify the article, Banister never managed for the Scottsdale Scorpions.  The Scorpions are off to a 4-2 start under Frank Kremblas, the special assistant to Pittsburgh Minor League operations director Larry Broadway.