Huskies’ Former Coach Picked Up by a Major League Ball Club
Leanhardt Lands Job with the New York Yankees
Duluth Minn.—Aaron Leanhardt was a voluntary assistant coach with the Duluth Huskies Baseball Club this offseason, specializing in hitting and analytics. He was excited to come aboard to Duluth, but those plans were soon to change. A couple weeks ago, he received a phone call from the New York Yankees and was offered a job in the Gulf Coast League as a hitting coach and running baseball analytics for their developmental league in Florida.
Aaron spent this offseason communicating with both Huskies’ GM Greg Culver and head coach Tyger Pederson in preparation for the 2018 summer season. He analyzed certain players they were recruiting and had a big role in the player selection process. He was set to work as a hitting coach, mentoring young college students to further their baseball talents, but one phone call would change all of that. Aaron said that he had talked with the Yankees organization earlier this fall and had stayed in steady contact with them. It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago when the talking turned into something much bigger.
With eagerness and determination in his voice, Leanhardt said, “The Yankees are a big organization in baseball and this will help me get some exposure to their front office and to help me get my foot in the door with both coaching and analytics.” Aaron mentioned that he’s not really sure of his day-to-day duties as of right now, but he will be hitting the ground running starting tomorrow. With this only being a contract that runs through the rest of their season, Aaron says he is going to let it play out and see where it takes him. He is thankful for the opportunity to make connections and gain some experience in working at the professional baseball level.
When asked what kind of advice he would give to someone in hopes to getting to the position where he is, Leanhardt said, “Value everyone you work with and to build on those relationships.” He explained that baseball is kind of small, so networking and maintaining relationships with people you work with in the past can really help you get to where you want to go.
Aaron Leanhardt wants to thank the Duluth Huskies Baseball Club for giving him the opportunity to work with them, and to especially thank Greg Culver and Tyger Pederson for bringing him onto the staff and for helping him get to where he is now. Aaron wishes the Huskies luck in their upcoming season and hopes to see big things from the talent they recruited in the offseason.
The Huskies open the 2018 season with five road games, but open at Wade Stadium Sunday, June 3rd against the Eau Claire Express. Season tickets, punch cards, and other ticket packages are still available. For more information, contact the Duluth Huskies front office at 218-786-9909 or huskies@duluthhuskies.com.
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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.duluthhuskies.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Huskies as your favorite team
