Winter Garden Squeeze taps new manager

The Winter Garden Squeeze has announced who will lead the team in the summer 2016 season, naming Jay Welsh as the new manager for the Florida Collegiate Summer League franchise.

Last summer, Welsh coached the Squeeze’s Futures Wood-bat League affiliate, the Tangelos, to an 18-6-1 record and a victory in the FWL Championship. Welsh is a longtime travel and high-school coach in the area, and his hiring represents a new direction for the Winter Garden franchise, which General Manager Adam Bates said last week has put a great emphasis on signing players with local ties.

After a relatively successful first season in 2014 in which the Squeeze finished 23-20 and made the FCSL Playoffs, the franchise suffered a setback in 2015. The Squeeze compiled a record of 8-28 and did not qualify for this summer’s FCSL Playoffs.