Darlington Named 2024 WCL co-Coach Of The Year

Wenatchee AppleSox head coach Mitch Darlington has earned a share of the 2024 West Coast League Coach of the Year honor.

Darlington and Portland’s Mark Magdaleno will share the award, marking the first time that two WCL head coaches both receive the honor since 2018.

The AppleSox skipper guided the club to the WCL Championship Game for the first time since 2013 and the club’s ninth division championship. Wenatchee went 35-19 before defeating Victoria in three games in the North Division Series and then Bellingham in the North Division Championship Game.

The Leavenworth native is the only AppleSox skipper to reach the postseason in each of his first three campaigns. Darlington became the only head coach of Wenatchee's six in franchise history to qualify for the postseason in his first year at the helm when he accomplished the feat in 2022. Darlington's 99 regular-season victories are second-most in AppleSox history and he guided the team to back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2023 and 2024, a feat achieved for the first time by the club since 2011-12.

In each of his three campaigns the AppleSox have broken their club record for walks drawn. This summer's club became the first to win the first half and lock up the first seed in the North Division since the two-half playoff format was adopted in 2016. The AppleSox have scored the most runs in the West Coast League since the start of 2022. Wenatchee led the WCL in runs (380) and batting average (.283) this summer.

This is the fifth time that an AppleSox skipper has won or earned a share of the WCL Coach of the Year honor and the first time in the last 11 seasons. Ed Knaggs won the award outright in 2005, 2010 and 2012 while sharing the honor with Corvallis’s Brooke Knight in 2009.