SOUTH BEND, Ind. --The South Bend Cubs' field staff for the 2025 Midwest League season was officially announced on Tuesday in a joint release from the Chicago Cubs and Michiana's local affiliate. 

The organization says Nick Lovullo is set to return for his second season as South Bend Cubs manager, after leading the team in his first full season as an affiliate skipper in the Cubs organization in 2024.

"The 31-year-old Lovullo joined the Cubs organization as an assistant coach three years ago with the then Tennessee Smokies. A former Boston Red Sox prospect, Lovullo was selected in the 20th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by Boston, after a collegiate playing career at Holy Cross (Mass.)," the organization said.

"Lovullo’s best college season came in 2015, where he hit .278 in 50 games. The excellent Patriot League numbers earned him an opportunity to play with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League that same summer. He grew up and played his high school baseball in Thousand Oaks, Cali. In his first pro season, Lovullo was promoted as high as Double-A Portland. His professional career concluded in 2021, with a stop with the Miami Marlins organization, as well as independent baseball. The son of Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, Nick will look the build on picking up 54 wins in his first Midwest League season."

There will be a new pitching coach this season, but the team says it’s a familiar face to fans at Four Winds Field.

George Thanopoulos, who was an assistant coach on the field staff during the 2021 season, is now the full-time pitching coach for South Bend. Between 2021 and 2025Thanopoulos spent time working at the Cubs Complex in Mesa, Ariz., before taking the Myrtle Beach Pelicans pitching coach job in 2024.

Another Myrtle Beach connection is newly hired Bench Coach Daniel Wasinger, who spent 2024 with the Pelicans as a Development Coach.

A native of El Paso, Texas, Wasinger was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 31st round of 2018 MLB Draft. The former pro catcher attended Southeastern Louisiana University, and his professional career featured a stop in the Midwest League with the Kane County Cougars in 2019.

Nate Spears will enter his second season as the South Bend Cubs' hitting coach after he oversaw a 2024 lineup that finished second in the Midwest League in hits, with 1069.

The team says Spears brings a vast amount of both Major League and Minor League playing experience to the coaching staff, as he began his playing career with the Baltimore Orioles.

"The ‘O’s’ selected him in the fifth round of the 2003 MLB Draft out of high school. The Fort Myers, Fla. native got his first taste of Chicago Cubs baseball when the Orioles traded him to the Northsiders in the Corey Patterson deal in 2006," the team said.

"Spears played for former South Bend manager Buddy Bailey in 2008 with Double-A Tennessee, eventually making it to Triple-A Iowa. His career then took him to the Boston Red Sox, where he made his MLB debut. Spears played for Boston in 2011 and 2012. As a coach, he stayed with the Red Sox and wound up coaching Nick Lovullo when the new South Bend skipper was a Red Sox prospect."

Also returning for a second season on the coaching staff is Development Coach Collin Andrews.

The Chicago native assisted Spears in all things hitting in 2024 and was considered a massive help to the media team last season, helping out as a translator for pre and postgame interviews.

Athletic Trainer Nick Roberts will be entering his third season with the organization.

Roberts was the 2024 ‘Midwest League Athletic Trainer of the Year’ and had spent time in the New York Mets organization after attending Florida State University during his undergrad years.

A few new faces will join this year's staff including assistant pitching coach Jose Zapata and strength and conditioning coach Allen Cooper. 

Zapata spent the 2013 season as a Dominican Summer League pitcher and was named a DSL All-Star that summer. He coached in the Dominican from 2015-2022, before spending the last three years at the Cubs Complex in Arizona, in the same role.

Cooper will enter his first season with the team after spending last year with Myrtle Beach.