At the Rip City Academy in Dalton, Massachusetts, Suns top brass held a press conference to introduce the fourth head coach in the team’s 10-year history.
“This local man graduated from Pittsfield High School. He lettered all four years, serving as a captain in his senior year. He was a middle infielder and garnered All-Berkshire County honors three times, All-Western Massachusetts honors two times, a two-time Berkshire North MVP, and a two-time All-Massachusetts state honors as well," said Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations Billy Madewell. “In his class of 2015, he was the third ranked shortstop to come out of the state of Massachusetts. He played Division I baseball with the Great Danes of the University [at] Albany. During the summers, he played for the Suns, where he's the all-time leader in Pittsfield Suns history. He also served as a bench coach in 2018. While nursing an injury in 2019, he took his talents to Gaithersburg, Maryland, where he became a lead hitting instructor in Prime Performance Athlete Training, which is a premier training facility located there. He’s also an OnBase University hitting level one certified hitting instructor and associate scout with the San Diego Padres.”
Kevin Donati – who also owns and operates Rip City – is the first former Sun to become the team’s head coach.
“I'm looking forward to the opportunity," he said. "You know, being with the Suns for three summers is a great time. I'm looking to build on that. You know, what I'm looking forward to the most is the friendships that you build, relationships that you build, and the memories that you get from this opportunity. So, really looking forward to that, and you know, it's going to be a fun summer. It always is with the Suns.”
He says his familiarity with both Pittsfield and life in a Suns jersey will inform his leadership.
“Just knowing the area, knowing the travel, what that's like, and, you know, playing six hours, seven days of the week, it's gets grindy," said Donati. "And having that experience, I think will help a lot. And trying to help the guys along the way, it's a long season, looking forward to just making good relationships with the guys, you know, helping develop them. Hopefully, we take another step in the right direction. I know a lot of their goals are and hopefully you can take a step towards that.”
“This is our 10th season on the field and I really want to take this as local as possible. I wanted to, if at all possible, find a local coach who knows the area, knows the field itself and the benefits of work using a home field advantage. And Kevin's name came to my attention," said General Manager Sander Stotland. “We started talking and we have the same ideology and philosophy about what this level should be. That it's, with Kevin, you know, having Rip City and the collegiate league training and developing young student athletes, it just meshed hand in hand. And so we came to an agreement and made an offer and he accepted. And here we are today.”
Stotland addressed recent news that the historic grandstand at Wahcohnah Park – first built over a century ago in 1919 – has been declared structurally unfit for use during the coming season.
“We're working in conjunction with looking forward to walking into the future of the next 100 years," said the GM. "We will be making accommodations, more information will be forthcoming from the mayor's office.”
Replacement bleachers will be used at the park this summer to make sure the Suns season can proceed apace in Pittsfield. The Suns play their first game of the season on May 26th in Nashua, New Hampshire before their home opener in Pittsfield on May 27th against the Norwich Sea Unicorns. The regular season runs into August.
