Joe Ayrault named Timber Rattlers Manager

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Milwaukee Brewers have named Joe Ayrault as the new manager of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Ayrault replaces Matt Erickson, who was named to the Major League coaching staff of the Brewers last month after being the manager of the Timber Rattlers since 2011. Ayrault becomes the eleventh manager of the Timber Rattlers since the team came into existence in 1995.

The Brewers also announced Ayrault’s staff for the 2022 season. Nick Stanley returns as the hitting coach. Will Schierholz is the new pitching coach. Liu Rodríguez, a member of Erickson’s coaching staff in 2015, returns to Wisconsin this year as a coach. Athletic Trainer Andrew Staehling and Strength and Conditioning Specialist Connor McCarthy are both back from the 2021 staff.

Ayrault has been a member of the Brewers organization since 2010. He has managed the Helena Brewers (Pioneer League 2010-11), the Brevard County Manatees (2012-2016), and Carolina Mudcats (2017-2021). Ayrault was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fifth round of the 1990 draft out of Sarasota (FL) High School and spent his entire playing career in the Braves organization, including time in Major Leagues in 1996 and a place on Atlanta’s postseason roster that year.

After his playing career, Ayrault became a minor league coach in the Texas Rangers system (2001-2003) and a coach and manager in the Cincinnati Reds organization (2004-2009). Ayrault was the manager of the Sarasota Reds in the Florida State League from 2007 through 2009. He is 834-943 (.469) in fourteen seasons as a minor league manager.

That record includes a 68-52 (.567) record with the Carolina Mudcats of the Low-A East in 2021 where he worked with many players – Joey Wiemer, Zavier Warren, Freddy Zamora, Sal Frelick, and Felix Valerio – who were promoted to the Timber Rattlers during last season.

Schierholz is in his first season as a coach in the Brewers system. He joins Milwaukee after spending four seasons at St. Louis University. Schierholz was a volunteer assistant to oversee the pitchers for the Billikens in 2018 and was promoted to assistant coach at SLU before the 2019 season. Schierholz pitched collegiately at Butler University and Miami (OH) University and professionally for two seasons in the Frontier League for the River City Rascals.

Stanley begins his fifth year as a coach for Milwaukee’s minor league system. Stanley had been the hitting coach for Milwaukee’s affiliate in the Dominican Summer League in 2018 and for the Rocky Mountain Vibes in 2019. He had been scheduled to be the manager of the Arizona Brewers Gold affiliate in 2020. The 2021 Timber Rattlers hitters finished fourth in the High-A Central League in average (.244) and OPS (.740) under Stanley’s direction.

Rodríguez, who appeared in 39 Major League games with the Chicago White Sox in 1999, has been a coach in the Brewers organization since 2014. He has coached the Arizona League Brewers (2014), Wisconsin (2015), the Helena Brewers in the Pioneer League (2016-18), and was on Ayrault’s staff in Carolina in 2021. Rodríguez, a native of Venezuela, managed the Arizona Brewers Gold in 2019 and was supposed to manage the Rocky Mountain Vibes in 2020.

Staehling, a native of Plymouth, Wisconsin, is in his third season in the Brewers system as the Athletic Trainer. He is a graduate of Marquette University.

McCarthy has been the Strength & Conditioning Specialist for the Timber Rattlers since 2018, the same year that he joined the Milwaukee Player Development staff.

The Timber Rattlers will begin the 2022 season at home against the Peoria Chiefs on Friday, April 8. Game time is 6:40pm.

Full-season, half-season, mini-ticket, and flex packages for the 2022 season are available online through timberrattlers.com, over the phone at (920) 733-4152, or in person at the Timber Rattlers Box Office located at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The box office is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Tickets for individual games in 2022 go on sale Saturday, March 12 at 10:00am.