The Worcester Red Sox had two managers in their first 5 1/2 seasons at Polar Park.
When Chad Epperson makes his Triple-A managerial debut next March, he will be the WooSox’ third skipper in 13 months.
According to published reports, the first by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Epperson will be Worcester’s manager for opening day of 2027. He replaces Iggy Suarez, who took over for Chad Tracy last April 25 when the Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora.
Both Tracy and Suarez were hired on an interim basis. Both finished the year in their new jobs, but Tracy was hired permanently near the end of the regular season.
Boston’s latest staff shuffle has Epperson coming here after serving as Boston’s third base coach under Tracy and Suarez returning here. He will be the WooSox’ bench coach after being the defensive coach in 2025 and the first part of 2026.
The Epperson hiring harks back to the Red Sox traditional way of staffing their minor league teams, especially Triple-A. He has spent his career in the organization and climbed the managerial ladder. This will be his third different classification, fifth different team and seventh different city.
He has managed Class-A ball in the South Atlantic, Carolina and California Leagues. Epperson managed Double-A Portland from 2022 through his promotion earlier this year and has also managed in Augusta, Ga.; Greenville, S.C.; Lancaster, Calif.; Salem, Va.; and Wilmington, Del.
The new WooSox skipper has had two separate stints as manager. He compiled an excellent record in 10-plus seasons at 731-669. That figures out to a winning percentage of .522. Epperson’s teams made the playoffs five times and he was Manager of the Year in Lancaster in both 2007 and 2008.
Epperson’s record in Class A was 431-402. In Portland his teams were 300-286.
In between managerial seasons he was a catching instructor in the Sox’ minor league system.
Tracy’s hiring in 2022 was a change in direction for Boston. He was from outside the organization and had never managed in Class AA. Prior to that the Red Sox tended to bring their minor league managers up through the farm system.
Billy McMillon, Tracy’s predecessor, came up that way. So did Kevin Boles, Arnie Beyeler, Ron Johnson, Buddy Bailey, Butch Hobson, Ed Nottle, Rac Slider and Tony Torchia — all with Pawtucket.
Significantly, Joe Morgan was an outside hire in 1974, as was Torey Lovullo in 2010. Both wound up managing in the majors.
Epperson will be 55 on opening day next season. He will be the third-oldest manager in Red Sox Triple-A history, second-oldest to start a season. Johnny Pesky is the oldest at 71. He was a midseason replacement after Nottle was fired midway through the year in 1990.
Nemo Leibold is the oldest manager to start a year. Leibold, a player on the 1919 “Black Sox” but never accused of being on the take, was 56 when he managed the Louisville Colonels in 1948.
Epperson will be just the second Boston Triple-A manager, not including Pesky, to get that job after serving on the major league staff. Bailey was Jimy Williams’ bench coach in 2000, succeeding Grady Little, then replaced Gary Jones at Pawtucket in 2002.
While coaching third in Boston, Epperson took a lot of heat. That did not mean he was a bad third base coach. Traditionally, third base coaches have a lose-lose job. They get blamed when a runner is out at home, but don’t get credit when they take a risk and the man is safe at the plate.
Suarez took over for Tracy amidst the mayhem of the last weekend in April. He kept things calm and the WooSox were 62-56, playoff contenders in the second half. Suarez still has not managed at the Double-A level.
Epperson’s managerial career with the Sox got off to a timely start. He managed Augusta in the South Atlantic League in 2004. The team was not that good — it finished at 66-73 — but his roster included Suarez, future major leaguer Brandon Moss and, in his first professional season, Dustin Pedroia.
It took a couple of decades and several detours, and Epperson has reached the top rung on Boston’s player development managerial ladder.
