Most of the same staff from the Columbia Fireflies inaugural 2016 season will return for the 2017 including manager Jose Leger. Hitting coach Joel Fuentes, pitching coach Jonathan Hurst and athletic trainer Kiyoshi Tada are also returning for their second year with the Mets Low-A affiliate. The only new member of the staff is Tanner Miracle, who will take over as the strength and conditioning coach.

Leger, 34, led the Fireflies to a 67-73 record in the South Atlantic League in 2016. He will entering his righth season in the New York Mets organization, and third as the manager of the Low-A ball club. In 2015, he managed the Savannah Sand Gnats (A) to an 84-53 (.613) record, and an 18 -game winning streak in August, the longest such streak in professional baseball in ten years.

Before joining the Sand Gnats, Leger managed the Kingsport Mets (R) from 2012-2014, with a record of 97-104 (.483), and the Dominican Summer League Mets 1 (R) from 2010-2011, with a record of 73-68 (.518). Leger, a native of the Dominican Republic, played five seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization, making it as high as Double-A as a catcher and third baseman.

Leger was also the third base coach for the World Team in the 2016 Futures Game.

Fuentes, 40, will enter his eleventh season in the Mets organization, all as a hitting coach. He had been serving on the staffs of Luis Rojas and Ryan Ellis in St. Lucie (A+) from 2014-2015. Previously, he coached in St. Lucie from 2010-2011, the Brooklyn Cyclones (SS-A) from 2008-2009, and in Savannah in 2007. Fuentes began his career in professional baseball as a middle infielder in the San Francisco Giants organization, where he played for three seasons from 1997-1999.

Hurst, 49, will enter his 12th season in the Mets organization, all as a pitching coach. He attended high school and still makes his home in Spartansburg, SC, 93 miles from Spirit Communications Park, the home of the Fireflies.

Hurst will be the lone member of the Fireflies staff with major league experience, as he pitched in three games with the Montreal Expos in 1992, and seven games with the New York Mets in 1994. He also spent time in the minor leagues with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers. The right-hander finished his professional career in 2001 with the Yakult Swallows in Japan.

Leger returning to Columbia leaves the St. Lucie Mets without a manager currently since their 2016 skipper Luis Rojas was promoted to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Rojas was moved up to the Rumble Ponies with their 2016 manager Pedro Lopez taking over for Wally Backman in Triple-A Las Vegas.