Casey Candaele is speaking from experience when he coaches up his players on the Toronto Blue Jays Triple-A team, the Buffalo Bisons.

The fifth-year manager wishes all his players the best and even those who have moved on to different organizations.

One of those is first baseman Spencer Horwitz, traded from Toronto to Cleveland then Pittsburgh on Dec. 10.  

“When he was in Triple-A, when trying to get to the big leagues, I sat him down and said, ‘You know what you’re not going to go to the Blue Jays until you are adequate at defence,’” said Candaele on a Zoom call from Dunedin, Florida. “And so, he took that upon himself to get better playing defence.”

Horwitz is just one example of players that Candaele has prepared for the majors, as many current Jays players blossomed under the tutelage of the former journeyman.

Ernie Clement, Davis Schneider, and Addison Barger are all examples of players who have benefitted from the versatile knowledge the Bisons’ manager provides to develop young players into everyday MLB performers.

When players reach the Triple-A level their main goal is to make it to the big leagues, and there they get advice from someone who has been in the same spot.

“It’s just understanding what they’re going through and how they’re feeling and how you kind of dealt with it getting out of it and see if you can help them that way,” said Candaele, who spent nine years in The Show. “Making sure you understand, when I was playing and going through this, how I dealt with it.

“And just pushing them in that direction to overcome the adversity or trouble that they’re having.”

The Bisons manager will never say he was a superstar, but the challenges he had to overcome have led him to be a better coach.

“A lot of superstars have trouble coaching and managing because they haven’t had that failure.”

When asked how his experience playing helped his coaching career Candaele added, “It helps a lot, especially when you’re a player that struggled and knew how to handle failure in the game and kind of fight through that.”

Every player coming through the Blue Jays organization has the ambition to get to or get back to the big leagues, Candaele’s job is to help them over that bridge.

“Sometimes players are upset with where they are at, if it’s Triple-A, like, ‘I should be in the big leagues.’

“Basically, it’s understanding that going in and then being able to communicate in a way that hey, we’re here to help you and we’re here to do anything we can to get you to where you want to be.”