Ruddy Estrella is tasked with getting the Swift Current 57's back into WCBL contention.
Estrella got promoted from assistant to head coach when Jayson Veyna stepped down.
"(Jayson) just cited that he wasn't going to be returning due to family commitments," said 57's President Brad Woods. "The board was 100% on board with having Ruddy take over. It sort of kicks us back a little bit to what has been successful for us for us in the past in the sense that Harv Martinez, a longtime coach married a local gal and then we had longtime success with Joe Carnahan who married a local gal in town here... and Ruddy is actively involved with a local lady so we figured we can't go wrong."
Estrella's qualifications go well beyond his romantic interests.
"Ruddy's been in the league as a player," Woods said. "He was an assistant coach at Regina after he was finished playing and had a stint at Brooks as the head coach. Last year again back with us as an assistant coach. So he's been in the league for a number of years now. He has a good handle on the type of player that we need to be successful and competitive. Seems to bring a lot of energy with them."
Estrella spent a challenging season as a WCBL bench boss with Brooks, but it got him experience with the top job.
"Brooks was his first chance at being head coach," Wood said. "He probably learned a lot that summer. When he came to us he had another year to kind of work under Jayson who had been a head coach in the WCBL at Regina as well prior. This time around in that top position, I really feel that he's going to be the guy that's going to help us get back into the playoffs and get back to where we we're accustomed to being."
Woods feels there are certain types of players the 57's need to target.
"Tim (Brown) from two years ago he had never coached in this league, and he recruited the wrong guys," Wood said. "I think with Ruddy he's continually been involved with the league and now knows what he needs and a lot of the recruiting last year was done by Ruddy as well. He's got a good handle on what it's going to take.
"I think we've seen just over the past years with that schedule, the rigorous schedule that we now play that I think pitching, and bringing in the right level of pitcher and having the right number of pitchers is critical to success."
The recruiting for next summer has already started. The 57's committed to local product Bordy Alexander who will return to the club for 2025.