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Menhart, Joyce Added To Power 2021 Coaching Staff

 MENHART, JOYCE ADDED TO POWER 2021 COACHING STAFF


Paul Menhart (Pitching Coach) and Ken Joyce (Hitting Coach) join Mark Minicozzi for 2021 season in West Virginia
 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (March 3, 2021) – The West Virginia Power has announced the additions of Paul Menhart and Ken Joyce to their 2021 coaching staff. Menhart is the team’s pitching coach, while Joyce will serve as the club’s hitting coach. The two join 2021 Power manager Mark Minicozzi to round out the coaching staff for this season.
 
Menhart comes to West Virginia after spending two years as the Washington Nationals’ Major League pitching coach. In 2019 Mehart’s pitching staff helped lead the way to the Nationals first World Series Title in franchise history. The St. Louis, Missouri native is very familiar with the Power, as he spent three seasons in the South Atlantic League as a pitching coach for Nationals’ minor league affiliates the Savannah Sand Gnats (2006) and Hagerstown Suns (2007 and 2008). Menhart also served in a similar capacity for Advanced-A Potomac from 2009 to 2011, Double-A Harrisburg in 2012 and 2013 and Triple-A Syracuse in 2014 before being named the minor league pitching coordinator for the Nationals prior to the 2015 season. He took over as Major League pitching coach on May 2, 2019.
 
The 51-year-old played three years of college baseball at Western Carolina University, leading the Catamounts to two Southern Conference Championships as well as topping the staff in strikeouts all three years. An eighth-round selection by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990 MLB Draft, Menhart started in Short Season ball before getting promoted to Class-A Myrtle Beach where he posted a 0.59 ERA in 30.2 innings. He dominated the Florida State League in 1991 with Dunedin, earning league All-Star honors after fanning 114 batters in 128.1 innings. Menhart worked his way through Double-A Knoxville and Triple-A Syracuse in 1992 and 1993, respectively, topping the 100-strikeout and 150-inning plateaus in both campaigns. Menhart made his MLB debut with Toronto in 1995.  He finished his MLB career with 41 appearances, recording a 5.47 ERA in 164.2 innings.
 
Joyce, meanwhile, comes to the Power with first-hand knowledge of the Charleston area, as he managed the Charleston Alley Cats in their final season in 2004. Joyce led the Alley Cats to a 3rd place finish in the South Atlantic League with an 84-56 record.
 
The Portland, Maine, product began his coaching career with his hometown team, the Portland Sea Dogs, as he was hired to be the club’s hitting coach in 1996. He took that same role with the Utica Blue Jays of the New York-Penn League in 1997 before managing the club in 1998 and 1999. After managing the Lansing Lugnuts in 2005 and 2006, Joyce took on another hitting coach position with Double-A New Hampshire for the 2007 and 2008 campaigns. He has also made stops in Triple-A Las Vegas, where his team led the Pacific Coast League in hitting in 2009, Triple-A Fresno (2010), Double-A Richmond (2011-2016), Class-A Charleston (2017) and Short Season Staten Island (2018-19). The New York Yankees had tabbed him as their 2020 hitting coach for Double-A Trenton before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the Minor League season.
 
Joyce spent his college career at the University of Southern Maine, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998. A 1987 graduate, he hit .356 in his 136-game tenure as a Husky and still holds top 15 marks in seven statistics at USM. Joyce also set an NCAA record with seven hits in eight at-bats in a NAIA Regional Tournament game in 1985.
 
The 2021 Power season is slated to begin on Friday, May 28, at Appalachian Power Park against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. A full list of game times, promotions, ticket information and COVID-19 regulations will be released at a later date.
 
For more information, please visit www.wvpower.com.


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