New Dayton Dragons manager Luis Bolivar was the team’s hitting coach the past three seasons. (Photo courtesy of the Dayton Dragons)

Luis Bolivar, who served as hitting coach for the Dayton Dragons the past three seasons, will manage the Midwest League team in 2017, the Cincinnati Reds announced Thursday.

It is Bolivar’s first regular-season assignment as a manager, though the former Reds minor-leaguer previously served in that role for Cincinnati’s Fall Instructional League program in Arizona. He played 180 games with the 2003-04 Dragons, batting .233 with 13 HR, 66 RBI and 37 SB. He was a Midwest League All-Star in 2004.

He is replaced as hitting coach by former major-leaguer Daryle Ward, who enters his second year as a coach in the Reds organization. He batted .263 with 90 HR and 379 RBI in 948 MLB games spread over 11 seasons. He did not play in the Midwest League, but his father, Gary Ward — also a former major-leaguer — did. The elder Ward batted .261 with 26 HR and 78 RBI in 126 games with the 1974 Wisconsin Rapids Twins.

Derrin Ebert returns for a second season as pitching coach for the Dragons. He pitched 11 seasons in the minor leagues and made five major-league appearances for the Atlanta Braves in 1999.

Dayton’s bench coach will be Kevin Mahar, who played seven seasons in the minor leagues and appeared in seven games for the Texas Rangers in 2007. He grew up in Midland, Mich., home of the Great Lakes Loons.

Last year’s Dragons manager, Dick Schofield, will serve as bench coach for Cincinnati’s Double-A affiliate, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.