Chicago Cubs announce 2023 South Bend coaching staff
SOUTH BEND — Today, the Chicago Cubs announced the field staffs for the 2023 Minor League Baseball season. Lance Rymel returns for his second season as Manager of the South Bend Cubs. Dan Puente and D’angelo Jimenez also return from last year’s championship team and will be joined by new pitching coach Clayton Mortensen.
Lance Rymel is no stranger to championships as he returns for year two as Manager of the South Bend Cubs. In 2021 he was the Rookie League Mesa Cubs Manager. Later that year, he managed the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League and won the league title. This will be his eighth season as a coach or manager in the Cubs organization, where he also managed Single-a Eugene in 2019 following two seasons at the helm of the Cubs Dominican Summer League squad in 2017-18. Rymel began his coaching career in 2016 following a three-year minor league playing career as a catcher in the Cubs system from 2012-14. Rymel was selected by the Cubs in the 28th round of the 2012 Draft out of Rogers State.
Dan Puente returns as the hitting coach for South Bend. This marks Puente’s fourth season in the Cubs farm system. In 2021, Puente was the hitting coach for low-a Myrtle Beach. He has been a hitting and catching instructor at Elite Baseball Training since 2012, a technology-infused baseball and softball instructional company created by the Cubs Director of Hitting Justin Stone. Puente also served as an associate scout for the Houston Astros and from 2008-12 was the Manager of Youth Baseball Initiatives for the Chicago White Sox. A former catcher, he was selected by Baltimore in the 12th round of the 2004 Draft and played two minor league seasons.
D’angelo Jimenez will continue to serve as the bench coach for the South Bend Cubs. He previously held the role of hitting coach for the DSL Cubs in 2021 and this will be his sixth season overall in the organization. Jimenez came up with the Yankees as a player and spent eight years playing in the MLB from 1999 to 2007, appearing with seven different teams. Primarily a Second Baseman, Jimenez would spend time at shortstop and third base.
With the promotion of Tony Cougoule to Pitching Coordinator for the Cubs, Clayton Mortensen has been tabbed as the new Pitching Coach for the South Bend Cubs. Mortensen spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons at Low-a Myrtle Beach and will begin his third season in the Cubs organization. Mortensen spent the 2019 as the Pitching Coach for the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League where his team won the 2019 Pioneer League championship. Mortensen was drafted by St. Louis in the first round (36th) of the 2007 draft and spent five years at the major league level playing for St. Louis, Oakland, Colorado, and Boston.
Nick Roberts begins his third season as a trainer in the Cubs organization and first with South Bend. In 2022, Roberts was the Athletic Trainer for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and held the same position in 2021 for the Rookie League ACL Cubs. Nick, originally from Orlando, FL, is a 2019 graduate of Florida State University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training.
Kelcey Mosley begins his first season as South Bend’s Strength and Conditioning Coach. Mosley joined the Cubs organization in 2022, spending last season with the team’s Performance Center in Mesa. He graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Sports and Exercise Science.
The South Bend Cubs open the 2023 season on the road at Quad Cities for a three-game series April 7-9. The Home Opener at Four Winds Field is Tuesday, April 11. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. and fans are encouraged to arrive early for a special Championship celebration and banner raising ceremony. Single game tickets go on sale Wednesday, March 8 beginning at 10 a.m.