Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Drillers Announce 2020 Coaching Staff

January 29, 2020

Just a couple of weeks after announcing the return of Scott Hennessey, the manager who has taken the Tulsa Drillers to three straight Texas League Championship Finals, the Drillers and the Los Angeles Dodgers have now announced the coaches who will join Hennessey on the 2020 Tulsa staff. Returning along

Just a couple of weeks after announcing the return of Scott Hennessey, the manager who has taken the Tulsa Drillers to three straight Texas League Championship Finals, the Drillers and the Los Angeles Dodgers have now announced the coaches who will join Hennessey on the 2020 Tulsa staff.
Returning along with Hennessey will be pitching coach Dave Borkowski and performance coach Garrett Lloyd.
In addition, four new faces will be joining the staff. Those include: hitting coach Brett Pill, coach Jeremy Rodriguez, strength coach Noah Huff and athletic trainer Yuya Mukaihara.
Borkowski will be back for his third year as the team's pitching coach. Before coming to Tulsa, He spent eight years in the Houston Astros organization that included time in the Texas League with Corpus Christi from 2016-17. Before that, he was the pitching coach at the Single-A level for Greenville, Lexington, and Quad Cities.
Prior to coaching, Borkowski had a 14-year major league playing career after he was drafted in the 11th round in 1995 by the Detroit Tigers. He pitched in 181 major league games for Detroit, Baltimore and Houston.
While with the Drillers, Borkowski has worked with pitchers Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, Devin Smeltzer, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin prior to their promotions to the major leagues.
Joining Hennessey for his first season on the Drillers coaching staff will be Jeremy Rodriguez. 2020 will mark Rodriguez's fifth as a coach in the Dodgers organization. In 2019, he served as the Oklahoma City Dodgers third base coach. He also was the manager for Low-A Great Lakes in 2017 and Rookie-Level Ogden in 2018, where he led the Raptors to a Pioneer League best 46-30 record.
Rodriguez was drafted as a catcher in the 16th round of the 2011 draft by the San Diego Padres. During his playing time in the minors, Rodriguez had two short stints in the Texas League with San Antonio in 2012 and 2013.
Also joining Hennessey for his first year with the Drillers is new hitting coach Brett Pill. This will be the former major league first baseman's first season as a coach since he retired from playing in 2017.
Pill was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 7th round of the 2006 June Draft. He made his major league debut on September 6, 2011 with the San Francisco Giants and hit a two-run homer in his first at bat. After playing in 111 major league games, Pill was released by the Giants in 2014 and went on to play three successful seasons with the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization. Pill came back to the U.S. in 2017 and signed with Detroit and attended spring training but retired before the regular season began.     
Lloyd will return as the Drillers performance coach in 2020. This will be Lloyd's second season in the Dodgers organization and his second in Tulsa.
Noah Huff joins the coaching staff as the strength coach in what will be his fourth year in the Dodgers organization. He spent last season with Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga.
Mukaihara will be the Drillers athletic trainer for the upcoming season. This will mark Mukaihara's fifth year in the Dodgers organization. He most recently spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons with Rancho Cucamonga.
The Drillers are slated to open the 2020 season on Thursday, April 9 when they host Frisco at ONEOK Field. The opening homestand will run through April 14.
Season memberships for 2020 are currently available at TulsaDrillers.com.