It’s not very common when a baseball team that is having a successful season such as the Washington Wild Things goes a portion of their season without a manager in place. But that is what the first place Wild Things have been dealing with for the past couple of weeks.
Washington filled that void on Saturday by naming Bob Bozzuto as the teams’ manager.
If Bozzuto’s name sounds familiar, it should.
The Greensburg native has been with the Wild Things organization since 2006, serving the team in multiple capacities, including bullpen, bench, infield, hitting and third base coach. He also is one of the few holdovers in the organization from the Wild Things last playoff season in 2007.
Bozzuto also is the athletic director at North Allegheny High School, one of the best high school programs in the entire state.
“There couldn’t be a more deserving person to be named manager of the Wild Things than Bob Bozzuto,” said Wild Things play-by-play announcer Randy Gore. “Having been a part of the team’s playoff runs in 2006 and 2007, Bob knows first hand what it takes to build a winning ball club in this league. I’ve been fortunate to see first hand the successful athletics program he runs at North Allegheny as well. He’s a meticulous, dedicated individual who was a great choice to lead the Washington Wild Things.”
The void at manager came about when former Wild Things manager Bart Zeller resigned from the team one day before the all-star break, one day after a dugout confrontation with pitching coach Kevin Gryboski. Since then the team has been using a coach-by-committee approach which included Bozzuto, Gryboski and hitting coach Bob Didier.
Didier also left the team Saturday afternoon, leaving the Wild Things with only two coaches in Bozzuto and Gryboski.
Bozzuto takes over a Wild Things team that is currently holding a one-game lead over Evansville in the Frontier League’s East Division and is in a good position to put an end to the franchises lengthy playoff drought.
Photo Credit: North Allegheny High School
