February 1, 2023 – South Atlantic League (SAL) – Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
WILMINGTON, DE – The Washington Nationals today announced their 2023 field staff for the Wilmington
Blue Rocks, headlined by the return of four familiar faces.
Mario Lisson will return at the helm as the manager of the 2023 Blue Crew, after leading the team for the first
time in 2022. Pitching coach Mark DiFelice, development coach Mark Harris and strength & conditioning
coach Brandon Pentheny round out the returning field staff for the upcoming season for the Blue Rocks, which
is in their third season as a Washington Nationals affiliate. Micah Franklin joins the staff as hitting coach, after
spending the 2022 season in Harrisburg (Double-A). In addition, the ‘Rocks will welcome a new trainer for the
first time since 2021, as Don Neidig heads to Harrisburg and Kirby Craft will make the move to Wilmington
after spending last season with the Fredericksburg Nationals (Single-A). Finally, the Blue Rocks will welcome
Paul Sirena as the team’s first Performance Analyst.
Lisson, 38, returns to Wilmington in his second season as field manager. However, this is Lisson’s third overall
season on the Riverfront, having also spent the 2007 campaign as an infielder with the club. That year, Lisson
batted .285 with 132 hits, which included 27 doubles, 8 homeruns and 61 RBI in 118 games played (110 games
at third base). He was named to both the Carolina League’s mid-season and postseason All-Star teams.
The Caracas, Venezuela native is the 18th different manager in Blue Rocks’ history, and is just the second
internationally-born skipper (along with Cambridge, Ontario, Canada native Scott Thorman, 2019).
Lisson signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Kansas City Royals on April 1, 2002. He spent the first 10
years with the Royals, until moving to the Mexican League in 2013. He spent the 2014 season with the San
Francisco Giants (Richmond, Double-A), 2015 with the Nationals (Harrisburg, Double-A and Syracuse, TripleA), 2016 in the Mexican League, and then back with the Nationals in 2017 (Harrisburg, Double-A and
Syracuse, Triple-A).
In 2018, Lisson transitioned into coaching as he was named the manager for the GCL Nationals, and managed
the team for two seasons. He was set to manage the Nationals Low-A Hagerstown Suns in 2020, before the
season was canceled. In 2021, he was assigned to manage the new Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals.
DiFelice, 46, will serve as the Blue Rocks’…
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