TL1 Frisco RoughRiders

Joe Mikulik Returns as RoughRiders Manager for 2016 Season

Published on December 3, 2015 under Texas League (TL1)
Frisco RoughRiders News Release


FRISCO, TEXAS - The Texas Rangers announced the coaching staff for each of their minor league affiliates on Thursday. Manager Joe Mikulik returns to the helm of the Frisco RoughRiders, Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, where he will serve in his second season as the manager.

Pitching coach Steve Mintz and athletic trainer Jacob Newburn are new to the staff. Both spent last season with the High Desert Mavericks, the Rangers' Class A-Advanced affiliate.

Returning for a fifth season as the team's hitting coach is former RoughRiders player Jason Hart. Eric McMahon is now the longest-tenured person on the staff, coming back for a sixth consecutive season as the club's strength and conditioning coach.

The eighth manager in team history, Joe Mikulik is one of the all-time winningest managers in minor league history. Last season, Mikulik managed an extremely prospect-laden roster, which included players Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Lewis Brinson, Ryan Cordell, and Andrew Faulkner, among others.

Mikulik, who will serve as a minor league manager for the 18th season in 2016, has won over 1,000 games as a manager. Through the 2015 season, he owns a career regular season managerial record of 1,117-1,040 (a .518 winning percentage) and has led his teams to the playoffs five times, posting an 11-12 record in the postseason.

Coming off his 2015 season with the RoughRiders, Mikulik is entering his fourth season in the Texas Rangers organization and third as a manager in the system, having also led the Class A-Advanced Myrtle Beach Pelicans to a Carolina League-best 82-56 record and Mills Cup Finals appearance in 2014. The Texas native joined the Rangers organization prior to the 2013 season and served as the roving minor league outfield instructor for one year.

Prior to his time with the Rangers, Mikulik managed in the Rockies system for 13 seasons with the Class-A Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League, where he left the circuit as the all-time leader in wins as a manager (938), led his team to a South Atlantic League Championship in 2012, captured the league's Manager of the Year Award four times (2000, 2002, 2007, and 2008), and helped over 70 players reach the Major Leagues. He was named to the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame in 2009.

He began his coaching career in the Cleveland organization as a player/coach at Double-A Canton-Akron in 1995 and later managed rookie-level Burlington in 1997 and 1998. He then spent the 1999 season as Houston's minor league baserunning and outfield coordinator.

As a player, Mikulik played his entire career, 11 seasons, in the Astros organization except for 239 games in the Mexican League with the Monclova Acereros, Tabasco Olmecas, and the Mexico City Diablos Rojos. He made all-star teams for the South Atlantic League (1985), Mexican League (1989), and Texas League (1991). Mikulik played college baseball at San Jacinto Junior College in Pasadena, Texas, where he was an All-American.

A native of Weimer, Texas, Mikulik now makes his offseason home in nearby Keller, Texas.

Mintz is set to embark on his fourth season as a pitching coach in the Rangers organization and first with Frisco. The former major league hurler with the Giants and Angels spent each of the last three seasons at the Rangers Class A-Advanced level. His staff in Myrtle Beach in 2013 and 2014 finished second in the circuit in ERA (3.71 in '13, 3.43 in '14), and he served as the pitching coach for the High Desert Mavericks last season, the first year of the Rangers' new affiliation with the California League club.

Prior to his time in Texas, Mintz worked in the Minnesota Twins organization for 11 seasons and began his coaching career in 2001 with Anaheim. This offseason, the Wilmington, North Carolina native, is serving as the manager of the Adelaide Bite of the Australian Baseball League.

Mintz pitched professionally for 12 seasons, eight at the Triple-A level or higher and two in the Major Leagues, with Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Anaheim after he was originally drafted as a catcher by the Dodgers in the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Mintz takes over the position held down by Jeff Andrews the past seven seasons. Andrews will spend the 2016 season as an Assistant Pitching Coordinator for the Rangers.

Hart begins his fifth season as the Riders hitting coach and his eighth as a minor league instructor. Four more of Hart's former players made the big leagues for the first time last season, including 2014-2015 RoughRiders slugger Joey Gallo. Despite 30 different position players suiting up for the Riders in 2015 and a roster depleted by injuries and trades, the club stayed in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories after a record-breaking 2014 season under Hart's offensive direction.

A former RoughRiders player, Hart played five seasons in the Rangers organization, including one in Frisco in 2005 when he led the team with 28 doubles, 21 home runs, and 77 RBI. Hart made his only appearance in the majors in 2002, playing in ten games for the Rangers.

Newburn, a native of Richardson, Texas, begins his 11th season as a trainer in the Texas organization and first at the Double-A level. He spent the last two seasons as the Class A-Advanced level with Myrtle Beach and High Desert. Prior to joining the Rangers organization in 2006, Newburn worked as a graduate intern in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas athletic department. He also interned with the RoughRiders during the club's inaugural 2003 season. Newburn graduated from Berkner High School in Richardson in 2000. Newburn replaces Carlos Olivas who has been moved up to Triple-A Round Rock.

McMahon returns as the team's strength and conditioning coach, his sixth season with Frisco and eighth in the Texas organization. He was named the Texas League's Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year for 2015, the third time in four years he has been honored with the award (also won in 2012 and 2014).

Season ticket packages and group and hospitality offerings for the 2016 season can be reserved by calling (972) 731-9200 or emailing info@ridersbaseball.com (mailto:info@ridersbaseball.com) . Single-game tickets will go on sale to the public in March.

Check out the Frisco RoughRiders Statistics

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