MILB Announces 2025 Triple-A League Awards; Aviators Fran Riordan Named PCL Manager of the Year; Carlos Cortes Outfielder; Ben Bowden Relief Pitcher

MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ANNOUNCES 2025 TRIPLE-A LEAGUE AWARDS AND ALL-STAR TEAMS

Las Vegas’ Fran Riordan named PCL Manager of the Year and Outfielder Carlos Cortes & Pitcher Ben Bowden named to the PCL All-Star Team

September 27, 2025 — Minor League Baseball™ (MiLB™) today announced the league awards and All-Star teams for the two leagues that make up the Triple-A classification in Major League Baseball’s player development system. The teams were announced on MLB Network tonight during the broadcast of the Triple-A Championship game in Las Vegas.

Fran Riordan was named the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year for the third time in his career (2019, 2023, 2025). He guided the Las Vegas Aviators® to an overall record of 83-67 (.553), including a first-half title with a record of 49-26 (.653). The Aviators won the PCL Championship by defeating Tacoma, 2-games-to-0, in the LCS. It marked the third all-time PCL Championship in franchise history (1986, 1988, 2025).

He was also named the 2019 PCL Manager of the Year (83-57, .593) which included a Pacific Southern Division Championship. The .593 winning percentage is a Las Vegas franchise record based on a 140-game season. In 2023 (PCL Manager of the Year), Las Vegas compiled a 75-74 record (.503) and finished in third place in the West Division.

Fran was named the 25^th manager (November 8, 2018) in the history of the Las Vegas franchise (1983-2019, 2021-25, 42 seasons). Career Summary: He has recorded 25 seasons overall in professional baseball and has been a member of the Athletics organization for the past 11 seasons (2015-25). He also completed his seventh season as a Triple-A manager (2018 with Nashville and six seasons with Las Vegas: 2019; 2021-25. He also was named manager of the year on one other occasion in 2008 in the Frontier League (Independent) with Kalamazoo. He has compiled an overall managerial record over 24 seasons of 1,392-1,338 (.510). He entered the ’25 season ranked eighth among active leaders in minor league managerial wins.

Triple-A Las Vegas: He has a six-year record of 451-413 (.522) and is Las Vegas’ all-time leader in managerial wins.

Aviators outfielder Carlos Cortes was named to the PCL All-Star Team. In 2025, he appeared in 71 games for the Aviators and batted .322 (86-for-267) with 24 doubles, 17 home runs, 77 RBI (team leader) and on-base percentage (.414). Recorded 41 extra-base hits (tied for team lead); slugging percentage (.603); OPS (1.017). He was named PCL Player of the Week (June 23-29), batted .609 (14-for-23), 4 HR, 13 RBI and named June PCL Player of the Month on July 2. He was promoted to the Athletics on July 22.

MLB: He made his Major League debut vs. Texas on July 23, 2025 and then recorded his first career hit vs. Houston on July 24. He recorded his first career home run vs. Los Angles Angels on September 6. He was 2-for-3 with two solo home runs vs. Cincinnati on September 12. Cortes has appeared in 40 games for the Athletics and is batting .310 (27-for-87) with seven doubles, triple, four home runs and 13 RBI.

Aviators left-handed pitcher Ben Bowden was named to the PCL All-Star Team as a reliever. In 2025, he appeared in 31 games for the Aviators and posted a 1-1 record with two saves and a 1.36 ERA. He allowed 27 hits and struck out 41 batters in 39.2 innings pitched. He was promoted to the Athletics on July 24.

MLB: Bowden appeared in 11 games for the Athletics and posted a 4.22 ERA. He allowed nine hits and struck out seven in 10.2 innings pitched.

2026 Las Vegas Aviators season ticket packages and information are available by calling the Aviators administrative offices at (702) 943-7200 or emailing [email protected].

Official licensed Aviators team merchandise is available on the “Team Shop” section of the website at www.aviatorslv.com.

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Contact:

Jim Gemma

Media Relations Director

Las Vegas Aviators, Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics

[email protected]

(702) 493-4510

Click Here To View The 2025 Triple-A League Awards & All-Star Teams