Bando majors in the minors

The new Scrappers manager was a catcher for the Indians from 1981-88.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- Consider Chris Bando qualified to take over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
When the Class A short-season affiliate of the Cleveland Indians opens the season Tuesday in Auburn, N.Y., Bando will manage his 986th game in the minor leagues.
Talk about experience. Bando has it.
"Running through the gamut of managing, you definitely benefit from my experience," said Bando, 45, a catcher with the Indians from 1981-88. "It's kind of fun starting over again on a lower level, looking back and seeing all the things I did right and wrong."
Bando's managing career started in the Milwaukee Brewers organization at Class-A Stockton (Calif.) in 1990.
"My first year managing we won the league championship, so I thought managing was kind of easy," said Bando, of a team that went 82-59. "As I look back, I had 13 players on that team that made it to the big leagues."
The following season in Stockton, Bando's team was runner-up. He then spent 1992 at Double-A El Paso (Texas), where Troy O'Leary, now with the Montreal Expos, honed his skills.
Bando concluded his managerial career in Milwaukee's system at Triple-A New Orleans before becoming the Brewers' third base coach and a scout.
Relationships
"The thing that you remember most is the relationships you've made from each city," said Bando, who has a 515-470 career record as a minor league manager.
"I can look back and see people from every city that we still keep in contact with, which is always the rewarding thing," he said. "Also, the players that you had who made it to the major leagues is a rewarding part of coaching in the minor leagues."
It's still too early to know whether any of Bando's current players at Mahoning Valley, especially those in their first year of professional baseball, will have that type of major league future.
"The first month we don't really do anything but let them play," said Bando, who managed the Double-A Akron Aeros last season. "We just try to ease their transition from college and aluminum bats to playing every day with wood bats.
"We don't tinker a whole lot with their mechanics," he said. "We want to give them a chance to perform, and then evaluate them and see how they progress."
Every minor league manager must deal with his players' inconsistencies, no matter the level. It's about believing in them and not allowing them to get too high or too low.
"There's going to be times when it's difficult to win and there's going to be times when it seems easy to win, but that's part of their development," Bando said. "It's a streaky game."
Moving to the Valley
Bando was supposed to manage the Scrappers last season, but changes at the major league level forced the Indians to shuffle their minor league staff. Bando was assigned to Akron and Dave Turgeon to Mahoning Valley.
Now, Bando finally gets his chance with the Scrappers.
"I live 40 minutes from here [in Solon]," said Bando, who, with wife Mary Beth, has five sons and a daughter. "So I'm able to stay home and be here to work with these younger players, which I love to do."
Scrappers general manager Andy Milovich said, "You need the stability and the calmness that someone with [Bando's] experience brings."
Part of Bando's wanting to return to the Indians organization was based on caring for his father, Sal Sr.
"It's worked out extremely well, being able to be home and be part of the organization I grew up in," Bando said.
Bando said his father has his "ups and downs, but for 85 years old he has relatively good health."
Asked whether his commitment to family is important for his players to see, Bando said, "As coaches we have a responsibility to be good role models, and part of that is being a good family man. Hopefully some things other than what we teach them on the field can be good examples for them."
richesson@vindy.com