LumberKings Announce 2012 Field Staff

Clinton, Iowa - The Clinton LumberKings, in conjunction with the Seattle Mariners, have announced the club's coaching staff for the 2012 season. Eddie Menchaca will be returning for a second season as manager of the ball club. He became the 44th manager in Clinton franchise history when he was named to the post last season.

Menchaca led the LumberKings to a 63-76 overall record in 2011, including going 37-30 in the second half to secure a Midwest League playoff spot - Clinton's seventh in the last nine years and 10th in the last 14th years. Menchaca, who turns 31 on February 7, enters his fifth season as a coach in the Mariners organization. He spent the 2010 season at the helm of short-A Pulaski Mariners, where he captured the Appalachian League East division title in his first-ever managerial role. That club advanced to the Appy League playoffs, losing to Elizabethton in the first round. The El Paso, TX native previously served as the hitting coach for Pulaski in 2009 and began his coaching career in 2008 with the Peoria Mariners. Menchaca enjoyed a seven-year playing career in the Mariners system from 2001 to 2007 after Seattle signed him as a non-drafted free agent out of South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, AZ).

The LumberKings' hitting coach for the 2012 season will be Tommy Cruz, who spent the last four seasons as the hitting coach with Class A High Desert. The 61-year old Puerto Rican native is in his 22nd season in the Mariners organization. Cruz is no stranger to the Midwest League, serving as a coach with Wisconsin in 2005 and 2006. During his 16-year professional playing career, Cruz reached the majors twice - with St. Louis in 1973 and Chicago (AL) in 1977. He spent the last six years of his career in Japan (1980-86) with Nippon Ham Fighters of the Pacific League, with a career .310 average and 120 home runs.

Andrew Lorraine has been named the 2012 LumberKings' pitching coach - after being in that same role for short-season Everett the past two seasons. The 39-year old Scottsdale, AZ resident had a six-year major league career, pitching for California (1994), Chicago-AL (1995), Oakland (1997), Seattle (1998), Chicago-NL (1999-2000), Cleveland (2000), and Milwaukee (2002).