2023 Montgomery Biscuits Coaching Staff Announced

The Montgomery Biscuits and the Tampa Bay Rays are excited to announce the 2023 Montgomery Biscuits Coaching staff.

Morgan Ensberg will manage the Biscuits along with newcomers including Steve Merriman, Pitching Coach, Frank Jagoda, Bench Coach, and Austin Teets, Conditioning Coach. Wuarnner Rincones will return as Hitting Coach and James Ramsdell will serve as Athletic Trainer.

Morgan Ensberg enters his fourth season managing Montgomery, who have made the playoffs in every season under his leadership. He led the Biscuits to a franchise-record 88 wins in 2019, earning Southern League Manager of the Year honors. The 88 wins were the 2nd-most among all minor league teams behind Class-A Delmarva (90) of the Orioles organization. Ensberg joined the Rays after managing for two seasons in the Astros system, with Class-A Buies Creek in the Carolina League in 2018 and Short-A Tri-City in the New York-Penn League in 2017. He spent the 2016 season as the Astros minor league mindset coach, the 2014-15 seasons as the Astros minor league special assignment coach and the 2013 season as the infield coach at Class-A Lancaster. Morgan joined the coaching ranks in 2011 and spent two seasons as a hitters and infielders coach for the University of California San Diego. He played parts of eight seasons in the majors with the Astros (2000, 2002-07), Padres (2007) and Yankees (2008). Ensberg was named the Astros MVP in 2005, when they won the NL pennant and came to Rays camp as a non-roster invite in 2009, but was released at the end of spring training.

Steve Merriman, pitching coach, joins the Rays from the University of Michigan, where he spent the last two seasons (2021-22) as pitching coach. Prior to the Wolverines, he spent time in the Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers organizations.

Wuarnner Rincones, hitting coach, led a high-powered 2022 offense in Montgomery. Previously he worked 10 years (1996-2005) at the Chicago White Sox Venezuelan academy as a hitting coach, infield instructor and scout. He played five years (1991-95) as an infielder in the White Sox system, reaching as high as Class-A South Bend of the Midwest League in 1995.

Frank Jagoda, bench coach, joined the Rays organization in 2020 when he was slated to be a member of the Princeton Rays staff until the MiLB season was canceled. In 2021, he was part of the FCL Rays staff that helped lead the team to the best record in the circuit and one of the top winning percentages in all of MiLB. Jagoda previously spent two seasons with the Minnesota Twins, serving as rehabilitation pitching coach in 2018 and a coach for the Fort Myers Miracle in 2019.

James Ramsdell, athletic trainer, completed athletic training internships with the Rays in 2012-13 and finished his master’s degree in sport management from East Carolina University in 2013, where he worked with the men’s and women’s swimming and diving, softball, and track and field teams. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training from Salem State University (Mass.) in 2010.

Austin Teets, conditioning coach, spent last season as an assistant strength and conditioning coordinator in the Seattle Mariners organization. He has previous experience as a strength coach at Elmira College and New York Sport and Fitness. Last May, he earned a masters degree in management at Elmira College.