Brewers announce Timber Rattlers coaching staff for 2016 season
GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Milwaukee Brewers have announced the 2016 coaching staff for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Matt Erickson returns for his sixth season as the manager of the Rattlers. There are two new members of this year's staff and three other staff members from last year return to the club.
In addition to Erickson, Chuckie Caufield, Gary Lucas, and Jeff Paxson are the returning members of the staff. Caufield, a former player in the Brewers system, is back for his third season with the Timber Rattlers. Lucas will begin his second season as the Pitching Coach of the Rattlers. Paxson returns for his seventh season as the team's athletic trainer.
Al LeBoeuf and Ben Mendelson are the new staff members. LeBoeuf will act as the Hitting Coach. Mendelson is the new strength and conditioning coach for the Timber Rattlers.
Erickson, who began his coaching career as the hitting coach for the Timber Rattlers in 2009, set the franchise record for wins by a manager in 2014. By returning for his sixth season, Erickson becomes the longest serving manager in Appleton Professional Baseball history. He had been tied with Gordy Lund, who managed the Appleton Foxes over five seasons, for the longest tenure of a manager in franchise history. The Timber Rattlers have made the playoffs twice (2012 and 2014) and the Midwest League Pennant once (2012) since Erickson became the manager of the Timber Rattlers.
Caufield spent six seasons as a player in the Brewers organization and one year in independent baseball before becoming a coach in the Brewers minor league system in 2013.
Lucas, a former major league pitcher with the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, and California Angels over an eight year big league career, is in his second season with the Brewers organization. Lucas, who resides in Rice Lake, Wisconsin during the off season, had spent the last fifteen seasons as a pitching coach in the Minnesota Twins minor league system including time as the pitching coach for Quad Cities (2000-2004), Beloit (2005, 2008-2012), and Cedar Rapids (2013).
LeBoeuf joins the Timber Rattlers after two seasons as the Hitting Coach of Milwaukee's affiliate in the Arizona League. He has worked in the Brewers organization since 2010 when he joined the system as the Hitting Coach of the Huntsville Stars in the Southern League. LeBoeuf has 27 years of experience in minor league baseball, including 26 as a manager or coach in the organizations of the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Brewers.
Paxson, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society's National Trainer of the Year in 2011, returns for his 23rd year as a trainer in the Brewers organization. "Pax" has been Trainer of the Year in the California League (2000), Pacific Coast League (2007), and the Midwest League (1997, 2010, & 2011).
Mendelson, a native of Milwaukee, is in his second season with the Brewers organization. He spent last year as the strength and conditioning specialist for the Arizona League affiliate of the Brewers. Mendelson is a graduate of Ithaca College where he received a B.S. in exercise science and is expected to complete his Master's degree in kinesiology from Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016.
The Timber Rattlers will begin the 2016 season at Beloit on Thursday, April 7. Wisconsin's home opener is Saturday, April 9 at 4:05pm against the Beloit Snappers.
Full season, partial season, and group ticket packages are currently available for the 2016 season. Tickets packages are available online, over the phone at (920) 733-4152 or (800) WI-TIMBER and in person. Groups of 20 or more may order tickets over the phone or in person. Individual game tickets for the 2016 season go on sale Saturday, March 12. The Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium Box Office is open from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.