Nunez and Corbell To Serve As Coaches Under Manager Jamie Quirk In 2016
Wilmington, DE -- One month after naming Jamie Quirk the 14th manager in Blue Rocks franchise history, the Kansas City Royals announced the rest of Wilmington's coaching staff for the 2016 campaign on Monday. Former Major Leaguer Abraham Nunez will return as hitting coach, while Charlie Corbell will take over the reins as pitching coach.
Nunez spent last season with the Rocks, helping lead Wilmington to its first Mills Cup Championship Series appearance in 14 years. The 2016 campaign will be his fifth as a coach. The 39-year-old Dominican Republic native played in parts of 12 seasons as a big leaguer, including a two-year stint just up I-95 from Frawley Stadium with the Phillies. His best year came in 2005 when he batted .285 in 139 regular season games, and helped lead the Cardinals to the National League Championship Series.
Corbell comes to the Royals organization from Miami, where he spent nine seasons with the Marlins organization--the last two as minor league pitching coordinator. The 55-year-old Texas native pitched for seven seasons in the San Francisco and Oakland systems. Corbell went 54-42 with a 3.67 ERA in 870.1 career innings, and reached Triple-A in 1987 and 1988. He replaces the longest tenured coach in Blue Rocks history, Steve Luebber, who was named Double-A Northwest Arkansas' pitching coach on Monday. Luebber spent the previous nine seasons in the same role with the Rocks.
Reigning Carolina League Athletic Trainder of the Year James Stone is back for his fifth season in Wilmington. Stone has been with the Royals organization since 2010, and was the New York-Penn League Trainer of the Year in 2006 (while with the Jamestown Jammers of the then Florida Marlins).
The 61-year-old Quirk replaces 2015 skipper Brian Buchanan, who was also named the Royals' Double-A hitting coach on Monday.
Quirk played in 18 Major League seasons for the Royals, Brewers, Cardinals, White Sox, Indians, Yankees, Orioles and Athletics. Originally drafted by Kansas City in 1972, Quirk turned in three tours of duty for the Royals (1975-76, 1978-82 and 1985-88), winning a World Series with the club in 1985. Overall, Quirk batted .240 with 43 homers, 247 RBIs and 544 hits in 984 career Major League games.
He began his coaching career with Kansas City, and served on the Royals Major League staff for eight seasons as a bullpen coach (1994-95) and then the bench coach (1996-2001). In 2002 Quirk served as bullpen coach for the Rangers, he then went to Colorado as bench coach (2003-08), to Houston as bullpen coach (2009-11) and then to the Cubs as bench coach (2012-13). In 2014 he joined the Padres organization and managed San Diego's Advanced-A affiliate in his first season, and then split last year between Double-A and Triple-A.
"Jamie is an experienced baseball man and natural leader," said Royals vice president/assistant general manager J.J. Picollo. "We are looking forward to him working with and sharing his experiences with our players and are extremely fortunate to have someone with his vast experience on our coaching staff."
Quirk lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife Anna. They have three grown children.
Wilmington opens its season at Frawley Stadium on Thursday, April 7.
The Blue Rocks, who drew 282,437 fans to Frawley Stadium in 2015 and averaged more than 4,100 patrons per game, will release game times for the 2016 campaign later in the offseason. Fans should call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com for more information or to purchase mini plans and group packages, which are on sale now.