Roger State Athletics Hall of Fame
A three-year member of the Hillcat baseball team, Lance Rymel left his mark in his time in the red and navy. The Broken Arrow, Okla. product played in 139 games and made 123 starts primarily as a catcher for fellow Hall of Famer Ron Bradley’s squad from 2010 to 2012. Rymel hit .322 at the plate for his career with 80 RBI and nine home runs. He was a multi-time All-Sooner Athletic Conference honoree. Rymel was RSU’s everyday catcher in 2012, starting in all 65 games, as the Hillcats went on a magical run to the NAIA National Championship. During that campaign, he posted a .318 average with 40 RBI and three home runs. After the season, Rymel became just the second Hillcat in history to hear his name called in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft as he was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the 28th round.
In his three seasons as a player in the Cubs’ minor league system, Rymel climbed as high as AAA, where he saw action in two games for the Iowa Cubs. For his career, he played in 84 games across all four levels of Minor League Baseball with a .225 average along with 15 extra base hits, three home runs and 30 RBI. Defensively, he posted a .984 fielding percentage.
Rymel began his coaching career in 2015 when he got the opportunity to become the Chicago Cubs’ rehab coach for two seasons, working to get injured players back to the game. He earned his first manager job in the Dominican League in 2017 before becoming the manager for the Eugene Emeralds of the Short Season Northwest League, in 2019. In 2021, he took over managing the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, a six-team league consisting of the top prospects from all 30 teams in Major League Baseball.
He continued to move up the coaching ranks as he became the manager of the Chicago Cubs’ High-A South Bend Cubs in 2022. In his first season with the team, Rymel led the Cubs to the Midwest League Championship. They finished the year with a record of 73-58 by capturing Midwest League West Division pennant with a 2-1 series win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels. They went on to claim the Midwest League Championship in a 2-1 series win over the Lake County Captains, including a 7-4 win in the deciding game three of the series. In 2024, Rymel took over the Double-A Tennessee Smokies and led them to an appearance in the Southern League’s North Division Championship Series after winning the Second-Half pennant with a record of 87-50.
