Todd Pratt: New yet familiar face

Since their inception in 2022, the Glacier Range Riders have hired a new manager every offseason with the hiring of Todd Pratt in November making it four straight seasons under new leadership.

But Pratt is far from new to the team. 

Before clubhouses were installed in the stadium and Glacier Bank Park became the ballpark it is today, Pratt had the opportunity to take the reins as manager the Riders’ inaugural season. The timing wasn’t right for him and his family. Now it is. 

“I have known the Kelly family for close to 20 years and there was an opportunity for me here day one, but I just didn’t want to come up here,” Pratt said. “I told them I would help the Kelly family and the Range Riders and with the turnover this year it was time for me to come up here.” 

Instead of taking the manager role in 2022, Pratt was hired by the Kelly family as a special consultant. The roster management, signing of players and hiring of staff are nothing new to Pratt, but now he is the leader and not the man behind the scenes. 

“Being the leader is a lot of pressure, but I have been through this before and been doing this for years,” Pratt said. “My job is to teach these young men how to be a man first, and second is make them a better ballplayer.” 

Pratt is no stranger to pressure, being a 14-year MLB veteran catcher who spent time with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets before finishing his career with the Atlanta Braves. He was part of World Series teams in 1993 with the Phillies and 2000 with the Mets. 

During Pratt’s tenure with the Mets he met pitcher Glendon Rusch, who he brought on his staff this season as the pitching coach. Rusch spent 12 years in the bigs, playing on six different teams and retiring with over 1,000 career strikeouts and 67 wins. 

Stu Pederson is returning to the Range Riders as hitting coach for the fourth season. With rosters needing to be finalized by May 15, Pratt and his staff have a clear vision of what they want their team’s makeup to be. 

“Character is number one,” Pratt said. “When we recruit, there is a ton of phone calls of where we find out where these players played throughout their career and the feedback we care about the most is good character, because that’s what our brand stands for here at Glacier.” 

The brand at Glacier is one that won Ballpark of the Year in 2023, made the Pioneer League Championship in 2024 and saw their first former player make their MLB debut this season when Logan VanWey took the mound for the Houston Astros on April 11, pitching two scoreless innings. 

“We have class every day for 30 minutes after lunch where I bring in some of my coaching friends like Mackey Sasser, Turk Wendell, Glendon and in those classrooms settings we are just telling them about our life,” Pratt said. 

With the goal of signing MLB contracts at the top of every players list in the Pioneer League, it is clear Pratt has brought in plenty of experience from players who know what it takes to get to that level. 

Sasser, Wendell, Rusch and himself all enjoyed long careers in the MLB and with VanWey’s debut this season, the Range Riders are hoping to continue their success of having the most MLB contracts signed in the first half of the season last year, with five of the 13 hailing from the Valley. 

“We have been there and done everything and the feedback we get from the guys has been great. We just want to pass down everything we know to these young men,” Pratt said. 

The Range Riders clinched their first playoff berth last year after finishing the first half of the season with the second-best record in the Pioneer League at 29-19. They slumped some in the second half but defeated Missoula in the playoffs to advance to the championship. Glacier lost the best-of-5 series 3-1 to the Yolo High Wheelers. 

Pratt is tasked of growing the brand that he has helped build in the Valley from the beginning, with a fan base who has seen the team’s success reach new heights each season. 

With opening day at Glacier Bank Park slated for May 20, Pratt and his team are down to the final days of training before the real season begins and he will be able to reflect on a decision four years in the making.  

“My wife’s happy, the kids are happy, and I am happy,” Pratt said. “The timing is right and now I am the leader but I kind of laugh at all the pressure.”