Clippers Announce 2009 Staff
November 21, 2008 - International League (IL1)
Columbus Clippers News Release
COLUMBUS, OH-Columbus Clippers President and General Manager Ken Schnacke and Cleveland Indians Director of Player Development Ross Atkins today announced the Clippers staff for the 2009 season.
Former Clipper TOREY LOVULLO will begin his first season as the manager of Columbus and his fourth consecutive season as the manager of the Indians Triple-A affiliate. SCOTT RADINSKY will serve as Lovullo's pitching coach for the third straight season. Joining Lovullo's staff this year will be JON NUNNALLY, who last year served as a coach for the Kinston Indians. JEFF DESJARDINS was named the Clippers trainer and BRENDAN VERNER was named as the strength and conditioning coach.
Torey Lovullo - Manager
Lovullo originally joined the Indians organization in 2001 as a roving coordinator and worked his way up the minor league system as a manager. Prior to joining the Indians staff, Lovullo spent 13 seasons playing professional baseball. A fifth round pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 1987 draft, Lovullo spent four seasons in the Tigers organization before being traded to the New York Yankees organization, where he played with the Clippers for two seasons
Lovullo hit .271 with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs in just 106 games with Columbus in 1991, as the Clippers won the Governors' Cup. The next season Lovullo was one of eight Clippers named to the International League's All-Star Team. He helped lead Columbus to another Governors' Cup Championship with 33 doubles, 19 home runs, 89 RBIs and a .295 average.
In 1993, Lovullo played in 116 games at the Major League level with the California Angels, hitting .251. He was claimed off of waivers by the Seattle Mariners organization in 1994, before making his first visit to the Indians organization in 1995 where he played for the Buffalo Bisons. After spending the 1996 season in the Oakland organization and the beginning of the 1997 season with the Montreal Expos organization, Lovullo returned to the Indians organization. In 1998, he hit a career high .326 in 92 games with the Bisons before appearing in 6 games at the end of the '98 season. Lovullo finished up his American baseball career as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He made one last attempt at professional baseball before retiring, as he started the 2000 season as a member of the Yakult Swallows in the Japanese League. Lovullo was a career .224 hitter at the major league level.
Lovullo graduated from UCLA in 1989 with a degree in Social Psychology. While at UCLA, he was named to the 1987 Sporting News College All-America team as a second basemen. Torey resides in Westlake Village, CA. He has a son Nicky and daughter Taylor.
Scott Radinsky-Pitching Coach
Radinsky begins his third year as pitching coach for the Cleveland's Triple-A club and his fourth season in the Indians organization. Radinsky served as the pitching coach of the Eastern League Champion Akron Aeros in 2006. He began his coaching career in 2004 with the Lake County Captains. Radinsky originally joined the Indians organization in 2004 as a guest instructor and later served as a pitching coach during the Florida Instructional League.
A third round selection in the 1986 draft by the Chicago White Sox, Radinsky played professionally for 15 seasons, including 11 at the major league level (Chicago-AL, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Cleveland) before retiring after the 2001 season. A left-handed reliever, he made his major league debut in 1990 with the White Sox and posted a record of 6-1 with 4 saves his rookie season. In 1992, he saved a career-high 15 games and in 1993 won a career-best 8 games while also registering 4 saves. Radinsky missed the entire 1994 season as he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease prior to the start of spring training. He made a successful return in 1995 with the White Sox as he appeared in 46 games and was 2-1 with a save. He played the next two seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and appeared in a career-high 75 games with the Dodgers in 1997. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999 as a free agent; however he missed the second half of the season due to bone chips in his left elbow. The following season he underwent "Tommy John" surgery after appearing in just 1 game with the Cardinals. Radinsky then joined the Indians organization in 2001 where he made his comeback from surgery with the Akron Aeros. He appeared in 23 games for the Aeros before being promoted to Buffalo in July. He was called up to Cleveland at the end of the 2001 season and he made two appearances for the Tribe. In his 11 major league seasons, Radinsky was 42-25 with a 3.44 ERA and 52 saves in 557 major league games.
Scott and his wife, Darlenys, reside in Simi Valley, CA with their two daughters, Shylene and Rachael, and son Scott. He is the lead singer for the alternative rock band Pulley.
Jon Nunnally - Coach
Nunnally coached Kinston for the second consecutive season in 2008. He made his coaching debut in 2007 after playing professionally for 14 seasons in seven different organizations (Cleveland, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Boston, New York-AL, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh). Nunnally was originally a third round selection in the 1992 June draft by the Indians out of Miami Dade Community College, where he was named the Junior College Player-of-the-Year in the Southern Division.
He spent three seasons in the Indians organization before being selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 1994 Rule V draft. He made his major league debut with the Royals in 1995 and became the first Kansas City player and 70th major leaguer at the time to homer in his first major league at-bat, as he took the Yankees' Melido Perez deep on April 29, 1995 in Kauffman Stadium. Nunnally then played parts of six seasons in the Majors with the Royals, Reds, Red Sox and Mets finishing with a career average of .246 with 42 HR and 125 RBIs. His finest season in the Majors was in 1997 when he belted 13 HR in just 65 games with the Reds. His professional playing career ended in 2005 with Campeche of the Mexican League.
Jon and his wife Tammy reside in Virginia with their daughter Kristen and two sons Jonathan Jr. and Jossie.
Jeff Desjardins - Trainer
Desjardins begins his ninth season in the Cleveland Indians organization. He spent the last two seasons in Buffalo. He is a certified trainer and also a certified strength and conditioning specialist. Desjardins is a graduate of Plymouth State College in Plymouth, NH.
Brendan Verner - Strength and Conditioning Coach
Verner has spent the last two seasons assisting strength & conditioning coach Tim Maxey in Cleveland, also serving as the Akron strength & conditioning coach for part of 2007. He previously served in a similar capacity for Mahoning Valley (2006) and Lake County (2005) and is in his sixth season with the Indians organization. He earned a Masters Degree in Exercise Science from Cleveland State University in 2007 and a bachelors degree in Physical Education from John Carroll University in 2004.
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International League Stories from November 21, 2008
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