2023 Kernels Coaching Staff Announced

2023 Cedar Rapids Kernels Coaching Staff Announced

Cedar Rapids, IA – The Minnesota Twins have released their minor league coaching assignments for 2023.

MANAGER:

Brian Dinkelman returns as manager at Advanced Single-A Cedar Rapids after a successful 2022 campaign in which the Kernels finished 73-58 (first-half champions). The Kernels were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by South Bend, they won 2 out of 3. We have made the playoffs every year since 2013. 11 former Kernels made their Major League debuts last year, 9 for the Twins.

PITCHING COACHES

Pitching Coach Jonas Lovin is a native of Minden, Nebraska. He attended Augustana and played for four years before transferring to Nebraska-Omaha. During his one year at Omaha, the Mavericks would go on to win the regular season and conference tournament in the Summit League.

Pitching Coach Carlos Hernandez was born in Guacara, Venezuela. Carlos made his MLB debut on August 18, 2001, for the Houston Astros, where he pitched 7 innings and allowed only two hits earning his first career victory. Overall, Carlos pitched in 35 games in the big leagues, last appearing in 2004. Carlos would go on to play professionally in Mexico and Venezuela with 2018 being his last season.

HITTING COACHES

Hitting Coach Corbin Day is an Eastern Iowa native from the small town of Ely, Iowa. He attended Cedar Rapids Prairie High School going on to play baseball at Kirkwood Community College and then Mount Mercy University. In 2019 Corbin was named to the Heart of America Athletic Conference Gold Glove Team. Corbin was also a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete and Heart of America Scholar-Athlete.

Hitting & Development Coach Yeison Perez is a 26-year-old from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The former Catcher/First Baseman spent some time in the Mariners and Twins organizations. Yeison played in 150 games professionally. His last year in 2018 with the Twins was his best, with a career-high .273 batting average. Last season Perez was a coach for the FCL Twins.

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING COACHES

Strength and Conditioning Coach Blake Kretovics is from New Richmond, Wisconsin. After High School, he attended and played baseball at Winona State as an outfielder. This is Blake’s first year with the Minnesota Twins Organization.

TRAINERS

Matt Smith begins his second campaign as the club’s trainer, along with Randy Yang, also returning for a second season in Cedar Rapids.

Kernels GM, Scott Wilson comments, “Having Brian back again with all the changes and upgrades to the stadium makes for an exciting year. The rest of the coaching staff has never been here, and we look forward to having the Cedar Rapids Kernels faithful impress them with their excitement.”

The Kernels Opening Night for 2023 is Tuesday, April 11th at 6:35 PM vs. Quad Cities. Single-game tickets go on sale on Monday, March 20^th. We still have season ticket packages available and our full promotional schedule with theme nights and daily specials will be released in late February.

To keep up to date on information regarding the Kernels 2023 season please visit www.kernels.com or follow our Facebook and Twitter feeds and subscribe to our Kernels email newsletter. bnv