Godard to direct Lugnuts' 30th season
LANSING, Mich. – The 30th season of Lansing Lugnuts baseball will be headed by manager Javier Godard, the Athletics announced. Godard’s Lugnuts make their debut with a three-game homestand vs. the Dayton Dragons Thursday, April 2, through Saturday, April 4, at Jackson® Field™. The 30-year-old Godard (“go-DARD”) had previously served
LANSING, Mich. – The 30th season of Lansing Lugnuts baseball will be headed by manager Javier Godard, the Athletics announced.
Godard’s Lugnuts make their debut with a three-game homestand vs. the Dayton Dragons Thursday, April 2, through Saturday, April 4, at Jackson® Field™.
The 30-year-old Godard (“go-DARD”) had previously served as Lugnuts hitting coach during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, working with future Major Leaguers Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler, Denzel Clarke, Brett Harris and Max Muncy. He moved up to Double-A Midland as hitting coach in 2023 before managing the Single-A Stockton Ports the last two seasons. A native of Baruta, Venezuela, Godard becomes the Lugnuts’ 20th all-time manager.
Godard’s Lansing staff will comprise pitching coach Levi Kelly, hitting coaches Luis Báez and Ron Witmeyer, athletic trainers Emily Matlock and Rakhoon "RK" Sung, and sports performance coach Jonny Christensen.
Kelly enters his first year in the Athletics’ organization. An eighth-round Arizona selection in 2018 from IMG Academy, he posted a 2.15 ERA with 126 strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings for Kane County in 2019, rising to Double-A in the Diamondbacks’ system before coaching at BARWIS Physical Therapy the last three years.
Báez and Witmeyer previously partnered up as the Lugnuts’ hitting coaches during the 2023 season, working with future Major Leaguers Muncy, Jacob Wilson, Jack Winkler and Colby Thomas. The duo spent 2024 and 2025 as part of Godard’s staff in Stockton.
Matlock and Sung will form the Lugnuts’ first AT tandem in team history, rising to High-A after working together in the Arizona Complex League in 2025. Matlock, the Lugnuts’ first female athletic trainer since Taleen Noradoukian in 2000, came to the A's following an internship in the Chicago Cubs’ system; Sung interned within the Washington Nationals’ organization before joining the A’s.
Jonny Christensen enters his third consecutive season as the Lugnuts sports performance coach. Christensen graduated from Cameron University and joined the A's in 2024 following internships with the Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers.
For further information, please visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.
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