Waterloo, Iowa – The Waterloo Bucks have announced Ryan Gaynor will return for his second season as the team’s Field Manager.  After being announced as Waterloo’s skipper a week before the start of the 2021 season, Gaynor led the ballclub to a 42-25 record, winning both Great Plains East First and Second Half titles and sweeping the Duluth Huskies in the 2021 Great Plains East Subdivisional Series to claim the Great Plains East Championship.

“I’m looking forward to coming back to the Waterloo community in 2022,” said Gaynor.  “The support the community provides us makes this one of the best places to be during the summer.  With the returners we have, we can’t wait to get on the field and take care of some unfinished business.”

Finishing the First Half of Northwoods League play with a 23-11 record, the Bucks won the First Half title by 10 games, securing their spot in the postseason for the second consecutive non-Covid year.  Waterloo went on to win the Second Half with a 19-14 record, claiming both halves of play for the first time since 2013 and third time overall.  In the playoffs, Gaynor led the Bucks to their first postseason win since the 2002 Northwoods League Championship game.

“I’m ecstatic to announce that Ryan Gaynor is coming back for another summer in the Cedar Valley,” said Bucks General Manager Dan Corbin.  “After being hired by the organization just prior to the start of last season, Ryan achieved a lot of success on the field, and we are excited to continue to build off that.  We have been putting together a very capable group of players who will call Cost Cutters Field at Riverfront Stadium home this summer!”

Under Gaynor’s leadership, the Bucks placed three players in the NWL All-Star Game, six on the NWL Major League Dreams Showcase roster, and three on the NWL Postseason All-Star Team.  Waterloo’s bats finished the regular season on top of the Northwoods, producing the second-highest scoring season in franchise history and leading the league in batting average (.277), runs scored (461), runs per game (6.91), and on-base percentage (.388) while landing second in both run differential (+136) and OPS (.749).

Gaynor is currently an assistant coach at George Washington University.  A native of Chicago, Illinois, Gaynor started his baseball career as a baseball operations assistant for the University of California in 2013 before moving to professional ball where he was part of the Milwaukee Brewers’ Player Development Department in 2014, being assigned Milwaukee’s Triple-A club in Nashville.  Gaynor’s pro ball career continued with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, working four of his five seasons there as the Player Development Coordinator of Minor League Video.  In 2019, Gaynor moved back to the college ranks with Santa Barbara City College as the team’s volunteer assistant coach followed by a year as the pitching coach at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2021.  Gaynor is a 2012 graduate of Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.

The 2021 Great Plains East Champion Bucks open their 2022 season at home on Monday, May 30 versus the St. Cloud Rox.  Cost Cutters Field at Riverfront Stadium, home of the Bucks, welcomed a new state of the art video board in 2016 thanks to a matching grant from the Black Hawk County Gaming Association.  Team ownership has invested nearly $400,000 in stadium improvements since the end of the 2014 season including group outing areas, painted bleachers, public Wi-Fi, sound system, kids zone inflatables, wiffle ball field, and concessions equipment.  Fans are encouraged to stay in touch with the Bucks by utilizing their website at www.waterloobucks.com or utilizing the Northwoods League Mobile App.

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The Waterloo Bucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 28th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 270 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.waterloobucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bucks as your favorite team.