Kane County announces field staff

GENEVA, Ill -- The Kane County Cougars, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, have announced that Cougars manager Brian Buchanan will work alongside the following field staff in 2012: new hitting coach Julio Bruno and returning pitching coach Jim Brower, with Mark Keiser and David Kathmann serving as trainer and strength and conditioning coach, respectively.

Vance Wilson, who guided the Cougars to the playoffs last season as manager, was promoted to the same post at Class A Advanced Wilmington, and will be joined there by his 2011 Kane County colleagues, hitting coach Damon Hollins and trainer James Stone.

As announced in November, Buchanan will manage the Cougars in 2012. He held the managerial post for the Royals' Rookie-level squad in Idaho Falls for the previous two seasons. A first-round pick (No. 24 overall) by the New York Yankees in 1994, Buchanan enjoyed a 16-year playing career that included stops in the Major Leagues with Minnesota (2000-02), San Diego (2002-2004) and the New York Mets (2005).

Brower, a sixth-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 1994, pitched for nine seasons in the Majors, from 1999-2007, with eight different teams and retired during the 2008 season.

Bruno joins the Cougars as hitting coach after serving in that role for the Rookie-level Arizona League Royals in Surprise, Ariz. Bruno enjoyed an 11-year playing career from 1990-2000 after being signed as a nondrafted free agent by the San Diego Padres organization in 1989. He posted a .278 career batting average in 1,177 Minor League games, reaching as high as Triple-A.

Keiser spent last season with the Burlington (N.C.) Royals in the Rookie-level Appalachian League, and 2012 will be his second season with the Royals organization. Kathmann joins the Cougars after serving as strength and conditioning coach at Rookie-level Idaho Falls.