Since it began in 1981, there have been four Baseball America Minor League Baseball (MiLB) Manager of the Year awards presented to members of the Dodgers family.

In 1985, former Dodgers infielder and 1965 MLB Rookie of the Year Jim Lefebvre was named MiLB’s Manager of the Year while piloting the Phoenix Giants (former Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants). Current Dodgers broadcaster and former MLB manager Kevin Kennedy won the prestigious award in 1990 as manager of the then Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque Dukes. Former Dodgers manager Grady Little won the award in 1992 while managing the Greenville Braves (former Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves). Former Dodgers pitching coach (and later Dodgers interim general manager) Dave Wallace also won the award in 2016 as manager of the Akron RubberDucks (Cleveland Indians Double-A affiliate).

And then there’s Drew Saylor.

After a historic 2018 season, third-year Rancho Cucamonga Quakes manager Drew Saylor was named Baseball America’s 2018 Minor League Baseball’s Manager of the Year after leading the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate to the 2018 California League Championship.

Shortly after that historic 2018 season ended, it was reported that following a meeting with Dodgers officials, Saylor would not be returning for a fourth season and would be moving on to pursue other baseball opportunities.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or clairvoyant to read between the lines here. After three seasons at the helm of the team’s Advanced Single-A affiliate, during which Saylor set a new all-time franchise record for wins at 231-176 (.573) and a new franchise record of 15 consecutive wins during the second half of the 2018 season, he was clearly hoping to move up in the Dodgers organization; not necessarily in a managerial role (although I’m sure he would not have turned that down), but more so in a player development role, such as a hitting instructor or coordinator.

It didn’t happen.

On Thursday morning, the extremely popular 34-year-old Barberton, Ohio native and Miami Marlins 13th-round draft pick in 2006 (out of Kent State University) posted the following message on Twitter:

Pure class, but not unexpected for anyone who has spent two seconds around him.

As for that Pirates organization thing, they gave him what the Dodgers would not. Saylor has been hired by the Pirates as their Assistant Minor League Hitting Coordinator until mid-June, after which he will manage the West Virginia Black Bears, the Pirates Class-A Short Season affiliate who play their games at Monongalia County Ballpark in Granville, West Virginia … a lot closer to Saylor’s Ohio home than Rancho Cucamonga.

The entire staff at ThinkBlueLA.com sends our congratulations to Drew Saylor and his beautiful family. You deserve nothing but the very best, my friend.