Dana LeVangie

Dana Alan LeVangie

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 185 lb.
• School American International College

• Born August 11, 1969 in Whitman, MA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dana LeVangie spent parts of two years in AAA in a six-season minor league career.

LeVangie hit .462 as a college senior year; he was named Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year and helped American International make the Division II College World Series for the first time. He also was named NCAA Division II All-American at catcher, an honor he shared with Bill Dobrolsky. He was American International's first All-American in baseball.

Dana was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 14th round of the 1991 amateur draft. He was the second catcher they took that year, 13 rounds after Scott Hatteberg. In his pro debut, LeVangie hit only .149/.231/.181 for the Elmira Pioneers. He was not much better with the 1992 Winter Haven Red Sox, at .192/.256/.224 in 76 games, with only 42 runs produced. He remained under the Mendoza Line with the 1993 Fort Lauderdale Red Sox, batting .188/.264/.208 with 28 runs produced in 80 games, splitting the catching duties with Alex Delgado.

LeVangie spent most of 1994 with the Lynchburg Red Sox, hitting a career-best .234/.315/.322 in 79 games; he was also 3 for 21 with a double, homer and walk for the New Britain Red Sox. The light-hitting backstop was a backup in 1995, spending time with the Trenton Thunder (.178/.246/.217 in 42 G) and Pawtucket Red Sox (4 for 17, 2 BB). He was with the same two clubs in 1996, hitting .218/.358/.382 in 23 games for Trenton and going 1 for 4 for Pawtucket. For his career, he had batted .196/.274/.249 in 351 minor league contests.

LeVangie remained with the Red Sox, as bullpen catcher from 1997-2004, then as a scout. In 2013, he was named the team's bullpen coach. On August 17, 2015, when manager John Farrell had to take a leave of absence to undergo chemotherapy, he was promoted to bench coach to work alongside interim manager Torey Lovullo. One of his responsibilities that season was helping rookie catcher Blake Swihart adjust to the major leagues, and the Red Sox felt it would be more profitable if he could be in the dugout talking to him between innings instead of spending games in the bullpen. Bob Kipper was promoted from the minor leagues to take over his former job as bullpen coach. In 2018, LeVangie was promoted to pitching coach under new manager Alex Cora. He was let go following a difficult 2019 season.

Sources include American International Hall of Fame