Jirschele Returns As Omaha Manager In 2010
November 18, 2009 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
OMAHA, NE - The Kansas City Royals announced today that Mike Jirschele will return as the Omaha Royals manager in 2010. Doug Henry will join the Triple-A club as its pitching coach, while Tommy Gregg will return as the team's hitting coach and Drew Van Dam returns as trainer.
Jirschele will manage Omaha for the eighth consecutive season and eleventh overall, having also skippered the team from 1995-1997. He served as Kansas City's Coordinator of Instruction from 1999-2002, after spending 1998 as the Royals roving infield instructor. Jirschele also was a manager in the lower levels of the Royals organization from 1992-1994 and was named the 1994 Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year, after leading the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a Carolina League title.
In 13 seasons as a minor league manager, Jirschele's teams have posted a combined record of 895-873 (.506). He was selected to manage the Pacific Coast League All-Star Team in the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Game. Jirschele, who served as a coach in the 1997 Triple-A All-Star Game, played briefly for Omaha towards the end of a playing career that began in 1977 when the infielder was a 5th-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers.
Henry served as Kansas City's roving pitching coach in 2009. He rejoined the Royals organization in 2008 as pitching coach for Burlington (IA) after ending his playing career with Kansas City in 2001. Henry was a pitching coach in the Braves system for three seasons, tutoring pitchers in Rome (2007), Danville (2006) and Myrtle Beach (2005). The right-hander was originally drafted by Milwaukee in 1985 and pitched in the Majors from 1991-2001 with the Brewers, Mets, Astros, Giants and Royals.
Gregg will spend his second year in Omaha and his fourth in the Royals organization, having served as the Double-A affiliate's hitting coach from 2007-2008. He was the hitting coach for Triple-A Memphis in the Cardinals organization from 2002-2006. For three seasons, he worked in the Braves farm system as a coach for Class-A teams Myrtle Beach (2001) and Macon (1999-2000). An outfielder, Gregg played nine seasons in the Majors with Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Florida, playing on the Braves N.L. Championship teams in 1991 and 1992.
Van Dam enters his third season as Omaha's trainer. Prior to joining the Royals system, he worked with the Braves from 2001-2007, serving as the trainer at several levels of the organization. Van Dam was the 2003 South Atlantic League Trainer of the Year in 2003 and also served as a trainer in the Arizona Fall League in 2005.
Kansas City also announced today Brian Buchanan will manage the Royals Rookie-level team in Idaho Falls. Buchanan played with Omaha the past two years, finishing a 16-year professional career that included five seasons in the Majors with the Twins, Padres and Mets.
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