The MLB Draft League has announced that Dave Trembley will return to manage the State College Spikes for the 2026 season, previously with the team for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
With more than 20 years of experience managing in the Minor Leagues, Trembley joined to manage the Spikes in 2022, the first year the Draft League its amateur/pre-draft and professional/post-draft half format, where he led the team to a record of 20-18 (2nd) in the first half and 21-19 (3rd) in the second. During that season, seven players from State College would be selected in the MLB Draft with five appearing in 2022 being drafted years after. In 2023, the Spikes would finish at an overall record of 25-40 with five players drafted directly after the first half and two drafted the following years.
With more than 1,500 managerial wins in the Minor Leagues, Trembley earned recognitions such as Baseball America’s Minor League Manager of the Year in 1987 and USA Today/Baseball Weekly’s Class-A Manager of the Year in 1995 and 1999. Joining the Baltimore Orioles’ organization in 2003, the Carthage, N.Y., native worked his way up to the Major League club in 2007 as the interim manager. In 2008, the interim tag would be removed and he would stay at the helm until the end of the 2010 season. Trembley would then join the Houston Astros as their third base coach in 2012 and become their bench coach in 2013 before joining the Atlanta Braves in 2014 as their Director of Player Development and Minor League Field Coordinator until 2018.
The Spikes are coming off of their first MLB Draft League Championship appearance after clinching the 2025 first-half championship under Tim Battle Jr. who served as the hitting coach under Trembley in the 2023 season before managing the two following years. They open their season Tuesday, June 2, in Niles, Ohio, against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers at 7:05 p.m. ET, and first home game is Friday, June 5, with an MLB Draft League Championship rematch against the West Virginia Black Bears at 6:35 p.m. ET.