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October 28, 2015Astros Announce ‘Cats 2016 Coaching Staff
The Houston Astros announced today their minor league field staffs for the 2016 season, and have named Lamarr Rogers as the next ValleyCats manager. Russ Steinhorn will return for his fourth season as ValleyCats hitting coach, and Ace Adams will join the ‘Cats as pitching coach.
Rogers is the seventh manager in ValleyCats history, joining the ‘Cats after leading Rookie Level Greeneville to their first Appalachian League title in 11 years. He takes over for Ed Romero, who had managed the ‘Cats the past three seasons. Romero is no longer with the Astros organization.
It will be Rogers’ second season with the Astros organization, after spending 16 years with the St. Paul Saints Professional Baseball Club of the Independent Northern League.
From 2004-14, Rogers served as the Saints hitting coach and third base coach, helping to lead the club to four appearances in the league’s championship series and seven total playoff appearances. In 2009, Rogers assumed the role of director of the Saints and the Saints Sports Academy in addition to his coaching duties.
Rogers was selected by Colorado in the 49th round of the 1992 draft and played four seasons in the Rockies system before getting selected by the Detroit Tigers in the Triple A Phase 1996 Rule 5 Draft. Rogers went to Spring Training with the White Sox in 1997 before playing two seasons with the St. Paul Saints.
2016 will be Steinhorn’s fourth consecutive season as the ‘Cats hitting coach. In each of his first three with the ValleyCats, the team’s offense has been ranked near the top of the New York-Penn League.
Steinhorn joined the professional coaching ranks in 2013 after spending the 2012 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Delaware State University baseball team. While with Delaware State in 2012, Steinhorn played a key role in directing the team’s offensive and defensive strategies, and helped see the club to a 40-17-1 record.
Arthur “Ace” Adams joins the ValleyCats as pitching coach, after serving one season in the same role for the Astros Triple-A affiliate, Fresno. The Grizzlies returned to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years and captured Fresno’s first Pacific Coast League title.
Adams joined the Astros in 2014 from the Cardinals organization, where he spent seven seasons as a pitching coach in the club’s minor league system. He served as pitching coach at Class A Advanced Palm Beach for two seasons (2013-14) following stints as pitching coach for Class A Quad Cities (2012, 2008-09) and Class A Short Season Batavia (2010-11).
Adams also coached at the collegiate level, serving as the pitching coach at Dartmouth (1984), Harvard (1985), Brandeis (1986-89) and the University of Michigan (1989-96).
Rounding out the ‘Cats field staff are athletic trainer John Gregorich and strength coach Mark Spadavecchia. It will be Gregorich’s second season with the ‘Cats, and third with the Astros organization. In 2014, Gregorich served as Rookie Level Greeneville’s athletic trainer and was named the 2014 PBATS Appalachian League Athletic Trainer of the Year.
Spadavecchia returns to the Astros organization for his fourth season, and his first as the strength and conditioning coach with Tri-City. Spadavecchia joins the ‘Cats from Double A Corpus Christi, where he was the strength coach for one season after spending 2013-14 with the Class A Advanced Lancaster Jethawks.
A complete list of the 2016 Astros minor league staff is below:
2016 MINOR LEAGUE STAFF
COORDINATORS & ROVERS
Field Coordinator: Paul Runge
Hitting Coordinator: Jeff Albert
Pitching Coordinator: Doug White
Catching Coordinator: Mark Bailey
Infield Coordinator: Adam Everett
Roving Outfield Instructor: Leon Roberts
Mindset Coach: Morgan Ensberg
Strength & Conditioning: Brendan Verner
Rehab Coordinator: Daniel Roberts
Complex Coordinator-Pitching: Josh Miller
TRIPLE A FRESNO
Manager: Tony DeFrancesco
Pitching Coach: Dyar Miller
Hitting Coach: Ralph Dickenson
Athletic Trainer: Bryan Baca
Strength & Conditioning: Trey Wiedman
DOUBLE A CORPUS CHRISTI
Manager: Rodney Linares
Pitching Coach: Doug Brocail
Hitting Coach: Dan Radison
Athletic Trainer: Grant Hufford
Strength & Conditioning: Taylor Rhoades
CLASS A ADVANCED LANCASTER
Manager: Omar Lopez
Pitching Coach: Michael Burns
Hitting Coach: Darryl Robinson
Athletic Trainer: Michael Rendon
Strength & Conditioning: Dwayne Peterson
CLASS A QUAD CITIES
Manager: Josh Bonifay
Pitching Coach: Dave Borkowski
Hitting Coach: Joel Chimelis
Coach: Wladimir Sutil
Athletic Trainer: Corey O’Brien
Strength & Conditioning: Joe Bossard
CLASS A SHORT SEASON TRI-CITY
Manager: Lamarr Rogers
Pitching Coach: Ace Adams
Hitting Coach: Russ Steinhorn
Athletic Trainer: John Gregorich
Strength & Conditioning: Mark Spadavecchia
ROOKIE LEVEL GREENEVILLE
Manager: TBD
Pitching Coach: Chris Holt
Hitting Coach: Cesar Cedeno
Athletic Trainer: Elliot Diehl
Strength & Conditioning: Julio Diaz
ROOKIE LEVEL GULF COAST LEAGUE
Manager: Marty Malloy
Pitching Coach: Erick Abreu
Hitting Coach: Luis Mateo
Coach: Ramon Vazquez
Athletic Trainer: Ben Myers
