Princeton Rays Announce 2019 Coaching Staff

Danny Sheaffer will return for a third straight season in 2015 as manager of the Princeton Rays. His return was part of a larger January 21 coaching staff announcement by the team that revealed he will be joined by Jose Gonzalez as pitching coach and the coaching debut of former P-Rays' catcher Craig Albernaz as hitting coach to round out the staff. The athletic trainer duties will be handled for the second straight season by James Ramsdell.

This upcoming season will mark the third year wearing the Rays' colors for the 53-year old Sheaffer and his 35th season in professional baseball both as a player and a coach. Prior to joining the Tampa Bay organization, he had spent the prior six seasons in various positions with the Houston Astros, primarily as their minor league roving catching coordinator. Sheaffer is a resident of nearby Mount Airy, NC.

Sheaffer's Princeton team in 2014 gave local fans a season to remember as they were the second winningest team in Princeton's 28-year franchise history with a 40-28 regular season record that was tops in the Appalachian League for last summer before being eliminated in the first round of the postseason playoffs by the Danville Braves. It was the P-Rays' first appearance in Appalachian League postseason play since 1998. 

"I look forward to returning to Princeton, and it will be great to see the friends that I've made from Mercer County over the past two years. Obviously, last season was very special in Princeton and I will enter the 2015 season with high expectations once again," said Sheaffer, who will enter the 2015 campaign with 65 career managerial victories for the P-Rays that already ranks him fourth in that category in Princeton franchise history .

He is an alumnus of Clemson University and was the first round draft pick (20th overall) of the Boston Red Sox in the 1981 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. He made his major league debut on April 9, 1987 with the Red Sox and was a .232 career hitter in 389 career major league games over a ten-year period from 1987-1997 (playing in seven different MLB seasons) as a catcher and infielder for the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was a member of the inaugural 1993 Colorado Rockies team and saw his only postseason action as a major leaguer with the 1996 St. Louis Cardinals.

"We are glad to have Danny back with us again in 2015. He did a masterful job last year of teaching a lot of good young prospects, who played a hard inspiring style that translated into winning baseball in front of our fans," commented P-Rays' general manager Jim Holland while making the announcement. 

Gonzalez, 36, will return to Princeton in 2015 for a second straight season. His 2014 P-Rays' pitching staff was first in the Appalachian League in lowest earned run average at 2.92 while also walking the least hitters in the league for the season. His mound staff last year also rewrote the Princeton franchise's single-season record book in five categories. Prior to joining the P-Rays' coaching staff last season, he had spent the previous three seasons filling the role of pitching coach for the Rays' entry in the Dominican Summer League. His 2013 DSL Rays' pitching staff had a sparkling team earned run average of 3.04. The 35-year old resident of Santo Domingo, DR also performed these same duties from 2006-2010 for the DSL Red Sox. As a player, he pitched in the Red Sox farm system for three seasons from 2000-2002, advancing as high as short-season A level Lowell (MA) in 2002. His three-year totals in the minors saw him appear in 19 career games on the mound while posting a 2-1 record and a 3.44 earned run average. 

"The numbers speak for themselves about the job Jose done for us here last year. Tampa Bay gave him some top-notch pitchers to work with and he has certainly done his part to accelerate their development," said Holland.

Albernaz, 32, will begin his professional coaching career this coming summer in the same city where he began his professional playing career as catcher for the 2006 Princeton Rays. He has played at all levels of minor league baseball, spanning 372 career games through his final professional season of 2014, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers' organization.

"We are very excited at the prospect of having Craig return to Princeton as a coach. He was a fan favorite here in 2006 and has a great knowledge of the game of baseball. I am confident this will be the starting point toward a very successful career in coaching for him," said Holland of Albernaz, who becomes the third former Princeton player, joining Jared Sandberg and Dan DeMent, to return here in a coaching position later in their careers. 

 

The upcoming 2015 professional season will be also be the second consecutive year The P-Rays' head trainer assignment will be assigned to the 28-year old Ramsdell, a resident of Pembroke, ME. In 2013, he began his tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays via assisting with player rehabilitation for five months at the organization's complex in Port Charlotte, FL. He received his B.S. degree in 2010 in Athletic Training from Salem State University in Salem, MA, where he worked on the school's training staff in both men's basketball and women's softball. He then served a two-year internship (2010 & 2011) at Appalachian State University in a clinic that specialized in injury rehabilitation. He finished work on his Master's degree in 2013 at East Carolina University, where his primary training duties were with women's softball, track and field, and swimming & diving.

The Princeton Rays' 2015 Appalachian League schedule opens at home on June 23 in a 7:00 p.m. game versus the Burlington Royals. Persons needing to order tickets, purchase souvenirs, or having further questions can contact the team either by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephoning their office at Hunnicutt Field at (304) 487-2000.