Coaching Staff

Details

Mark Mason, Manager

Following a highly successful three-year tenure as pitching coach, Mark Mason takes over the reins, entering his first season as York Revolution Manager in 2013. Mason's promotion to Manager was announced on September 4, 2012, as he succeeds Andy Etchebarren in becoming the third manager in Revolution history.

Mason has played a variety of integral roles in the Revolution's success since his arrival before the 2010 season.  As pitching coach, his staffs have amassed a league-best 221-183 record in his three seasons as the Revs are one of only two Atlantic League teams to reach the playoffs each of those years.  Mason has also produced numerous pitchers whose contracts have been purchased by Major League organizations, two of whom went on to pitch in the Majors last season.  In addition to his unparalleled success as pitching coach, Mason has held a leading role in player procurement since his arrival, as his far-reaching connections and tireless efforts have helped the Revs win a pair of championships and establish new club records for wins in each of the last two seasons.

In Mason's first two seasons, the Revolution became just the second team in Atlantic League history to win back-to-back championships, doing so in 2010 and 2011.  The team's postseason success centered around Mason's pitching staffs, as the Revs posted a combined 3.10 ERA with a 12-5 record during those championship runs.

Under Mason's guidance, the Revolution have finished in the top half of the league in team ERA each of the last two regular seasons with a combined 4.15 ERA, the league's third lowest over that stretch, including a club record 3.99 ERA last season.  The Revs have also set team records in shutouts with nine and 11 the last two seasons respectively, leading the league both years.  

Since Mason's arrival, the Revolution have had 11 players signed in-season by MLB organizations, eight of whom have come from Mason's pitching staffs.  Two of those pitchers made it back to the Majors last season, as lefty Justin Hampson (York '10) worked a 1.80 ERA in 13 appearances for the New York Mets, and right-hander Shawn Hill, who began the season with the Revolution where he did not allow a run in 27.2 innings as a starter, finished the season in the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen earning a win with three scoreless innings against the New York Yankees on September 29.

The 2013 season will be Mason's 27th as a coach at either the collegiate or professional level.  He came to York from Western Pennsylvania, where he had most recently been manager of the Washington (PA) Wild Things of the Frontier League.  Mason's accomplishments in the Frontier League are numerous, having worked with three separate organizations on that circuit.  His first stint in Washington began in 2002 as pitching coach, where he remained for three seasons.  In 2005, he became Manager of the Ohio Valley Red Coats and was named Frontier League Manager of The Year in his lone season as skipper of the team.  In 2006, Mason returned to Washington as pitching coach, before taking the managerial reigns of the Chillicothe Paints, also of the Frontier League.  He managed the Paints for two seasons before joining the Wild Things for a third stint, this time as Manager.  Mason's pitching staffs led the Frontier League in wins in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Before joining the pro game, Mason spent 16 seasons from 1987 through 2002 as the head baseball coach at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA.

As a player, Mason pitched in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, ascending as high as Double-A Lynn (MA) of the Eastern League.  "Mase" also pitched at Waynesburg (PA) College, which is now Waynesburg University.

Enohel Polanco, Bench Coach/Third Base Coach

Atlantic League veteran Enohel Polanco returns to the Revs for his fourth season on the staff.  “Polo” made the transition from player to coach during the 2010 season, initially as the club’s first ever player-coach, holding both an active roster spot as an infielder as well as a spot on the coaching staff.  During his time in York, he has played a major role both on the field as the team’s third base coach, and behind the scenes in helping the club reach the postseason during each of his three years.  The 2010 and 2011 championships marked the first Atlantic League titles of his career.

When the Revs landed Polanco, they acquired a respected veteran whose Atlantic League ties run deep. The 2013 season is his 11th in the league, and the Revolution are his sixth Atlantic League team.

A native of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Polanco began his professional career in 1995 when he signed with the New York Mets.  Primarily a shortstop early on, his 14-year career as a player also took him to the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, and Colorado Rockies farm systems, reaching the Triple-A level with Cleveland and Florida in 2000.  In total, he played for 21 different clubs, including seven during the 2000 season alone.

Polanco first signed to play in the Atlantic League in 2001 as a member of the Atlantic City Surf, batting .303 that first season.  He has also played in the Atlantic League for Nashua, Southern Maryland, Bridgeport, Newark, and York, batting a combined .290 during his time on the circuit.

With the Revs, Polanco has been instrumental in the organization’s player procurement efforts, and his connections, especially in the Latin American baseball community, have helped the Revs land numerous key players during the greatest stretch of success in franchise history.  His behind-the-scenes work with the team’s hitters has paid dividends as well, as the Revs have led the league with a combined .289 team batting average in the three years since his arrival, while pacing the circuit in runs scored during that timeframe.  Polanco and the entire Revs coaching staff has had the honor of coaching the Freedom Division to victories at each of the last two Atlantic League All-Star Games, including the 2011 All-Star Game held at Sovereign Bank Stadium in York.

Last summer, Polanco passed his citizenship test, officially becoming a citizen of the United States.  He and his wife reside in Kendall Park, NJ.

John Halama, Pitching Coach

John Halama was the first new hire made by first-year Revolution Manager Mark Mason.  Halama transitions to the next phase of his baseball career as a coach after a decorated playing career that spanned parts of nine seasons in the Major Leagues, followed by stops in the Atlantic League over the last six seasons.

At age 40, Halama was still one of the Atlantic League's best last season, finishing in the league's top five in wins with a 13-8 record, to go with a 3.09 ERA, the league's fourth lowest, in 27 starts for the rival Lancaster Barnstormers.  He also proved to still be one of the league's most durable, with three complete games including a nine-inning shutout on August 23 against Sugar Land, and 186.2 total innings to his credit, the second most in the league.

Halama is a 56-game winner at the Major League level, and reached double figures in wins in three consecutive seasons with the Seattle Mariners from 1999-2001.  That stretch included a career-best 14-win season in 2000, while he also won 10 games for the 2001 Mariners team that set the American League single-season wins record and tied the MLB wins record by going 116-46.  That same year, Halama fired a perfect game for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, one of just eight in the history of the Pacific Coast League.

All told, the Brooklyn native totaled 262 appearances including 119 starts at the Major League level for the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles from 1998-2006.  

Halama first came to the Atlantic League in 2007 with the Long Island Ducks, and began each of the next three seasons with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs before having his contract purchased by a Major League organization all three years.  He is the only player in Atlantic League history to earn a contract with an MLB organization on four separate occasions after playing for an Atlantic League team, having signed with the Cleveland Indians in 2008 (Triple-A Buffalo), the Atlanta Braves in 2009 (Triple-A Gwinnett), the Milwaukee Brewers following the 2009 season and the Oakland Athletics (Triple-A Sacramento) in 2010.

Halama ranks in the top ten in Atlantic League history with 41 career victories, while posting a 3.43 career ERA.  That mark includes a sub-2.00 ERA in three consecutive Atlantic League seasons from 2008-2010 with Southern Maryland.  He also ranks eighth in league history in innings pitched with 627.

Halama was always a rival of the team he now joins, having earned six of his victories against York with a 3.69 ERA and five complete games.  Among his highlights were complete game shutouts against the Revolution in 2008 (Southern Maryland) and 2011 (Lancaster), and a complete game two-hitter in a playoff victory against York on September 24, 2011.