MONTGOMERY NAMED MANAGER OF THE YEAR
SIOUX CITY SKIPPER GUIDES TEAM TO LEAGUE’S TOP RECORD IN 2025
SIOUX CITY, Iowa—The American Association of Professional Baseball has named Sioux City Manager Steve Montgomery the 2025 Manager of the Year. Montgomery has just completed his 11th season in the Explorers dugout and has guided Sioux City to a league-best 64-36 record this season. The X’s also claimed the West Division regular season division title, the team’s first since 2018. The Explorers closed out the regular season on Labor Day Monday with an 12-8 win over the Winnipeg Goldeyes, sending the team to a season-high 28 games above .500.
Montgomery assembled a team that shattered and then rewrote the record book in stolen bases for the American Association this past season. The offense broke the previous league stolen-base record of 213 held by the 2023 Milwaukee Milkmen with the team’s 214th bag theft on August 12. The X’s would add another 61 on the way to 275 stolen bases to finish the regular season.
Sioux City finished second in the American Association in pitching with a 3.94 team ERA and posted the second highest number of strikeouts with 908. The X’s posted 10 shutouts and gave up the fewest home runs in the league at 59. The pitching staff finished second in the league with a .238 average against, and Montgomery saw his team go from 11th in pitching in 2024 to second in 2025.
Montgomery brought in a mix of young, new talent to Sioux City to go with a solid group of returning arms. The Explorers were especially tough in close ball games. The club led the league in one-run games at 22-8 (.733) and went 14-9 in two-run games, also tops in the American Association. Sioux City was 36-17 in games decided by two runs or fewer and lead the league in extra inning wins at 10-5.
The Ohio native led the Explorers to the postseason for the eighth time under his watch and had a winning record against nine of 11 teams in the league while splitting two more head-to-head matchups. Sioux City did not have a losing record against any team in the American Association this season.
Montgomery is the winningest manager in Explorers history with an overall record of 617-482 (.561) in the Sioux City dugout. Mongo reached the 500-win mark in Siouxland on May 27, 2023, in a 3-2 win over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at Lewis and Clark Park. He hit the 600-win milestone earlier this season in a 9-8 win over Kansas City at home on July 30.
Montgomery began his coaching career in 2004 as a pitching coach with the Fargo -Moorhead RedHawks, and from 2005 to 2009, he also served as the pitching coach for North Dakota State University. Montgomery spent nine seasons in professional baseball, playing for the Orioles, Royals, Dodgers and Red Sox organizations, reaching as high as Triple-A in 1997. He also played independent baseball in the Frontier and Northern Leagues. He was a member of the 1996 Australian Baseball League Champion Perth Heat while a member of the Orioles organization.
The Explorers are off Tuesday, September 2 and will begin the American Association Playoffs on Wednesday, September 3 against the Sioux Falls Canaries at Sioux Falls Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The game can be heard on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM and the video stream will air on aabaseball.tv.
Playoff tickets for home playoff game number one, scheduled for Friday, September 5, are on sale now at the Lewis and Clark Box Office or online at xsbaseball.com. For more information, please call the Explorers’ front office at 712-277-WINS.