Oberkfell Will Coach Escogido Again

Dominican Baseball champions Leones del Escogido announced Friday that Ken Oberkfell will return as manager of the club for the upcoming season of Dominican winter ball.

The staff of the red team met with Oberkfell at the premises of the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie, at the start of an extensive tour of major league training to share with members of the organization that are scattered Arizona and Florida.

"It was an easy decision. Oberkfell returns as manager," said Moises Alou, general manager of Escogido. "Although not officially announced, he was hired."

Alou arrived at Tradition Field, accompanied by Vice President Jose Miguel Bonetti (executive), Luis Manuel Bonetti (marketing), Eduardo Najri (business) and Junior Noboa (baseball operations), assistant operations Rafael Mateo and other executives.

Hiring Oberkfell was almost automatic, after which he led Leones to win their first championship in dominican baseball since 1992, and later to be crowned kings of the Caribbean Series for the third time in its history.

Also, he was the Manager of the Year of the Dominican League.

"A winning manager is not changed," said Alou, son of legendary Felipe Alou, who managed the last Escogido team that celebrated with champagne after the end of a championship.

He led the capital team to win the regular season with 30-19 record, to second place in the playoff semifinals, and beat the Gigantes del Cibao in the ninth and final match of one of the most hotly contested final in the history of the national pastime Dominican.

Oberkfell, 53, is now preparing to lead the Buffalo Bisons, the branch of the Mets in the International League (Triple A). Last summer began and ended in a triple-A team as coach in Queens big.

Oberkfell played 16 seasons (1977-92) in the majors with St. Louis, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Houston and California.

He began his career as manager in 1992 and in 2005 was named by Baseball America as Manager of the Year of all U.S. minor leagues.