Kremblas earning managerial acclaim

MILWAUKEE -- Robbed by the parent club of their core players, the Triple-A Nashville Sounds were a most unlikely champion in 2005.

"We never expected that team to do anything like it did," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, who promoted 13 Nashville players to Milwaukee during the course of the year. "He proved a lot of people wrong."

"He" is 39-year-old Sounds manager Frank Kremblas, a fiery former Minor League infielder who led Nashville to the Pacific Coast League title in 2005.

Kremblas was never considered a top prospect during his playing days, but he has earned major acclaim for his work in the managerial ranks. Melvin and the Brewers already have asked Kremblas and his staff to return to Nashville for 2006, and many in the organization believe he has a future as a coach or manager in the Majors.

"I'd like to be there, definitely," said Kremblas, who was named Southern League Manager of the Year by his peers in 2003 and best managerial prospect by Baseball America in 2004.

"I think I could help a big-league team in some capacity. I'd love for it to be with the Brewers when they get to the point where they can contend for a world championship."

The team is attempting to build back to that point, and Kremblas is a big part of the process. He has skippered in the team's Minor League chain since 2000, including three seasons with the Double-A Huntsville affiliate before taking over the Triple-A club last year.

In 2005, Kremblas managed a number of prospects considered to be important components to the organization's future, including Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Jose Capellan. Kremblas would have loved to manage all four a bit longer.

Weeks was promoted in early June and played out the year as the Brewers' starting second baseman. Hart and Fielder were Nashville's top offensive threats before they finished the season on the Brewers' bench. Capellan and Kane Davis were the team's best relievers before they went up to the big club, and Justin Lehr served a valuable role as both a starter and reliever -- and a surprising offensive contributor.

Those losses took a toll. The Sounds had led their division for most of the season, but lost 16 of 19 games in one stretch. With newly promoted players from Double-A Huntsville in the fold, the Sounds finally clinched a playoff spot on the next-to-last day of the season.

"It shows you what that group was made of," Kremblas said. "It seemed like every guy we plugged in there did something to help us win. That's what you have to have."

The team won four of five games to finish the regular season and stayed hot in the playoffs, thanks largely to outfielder Nelson Cruz. One of the players promoted from Huntsville, Cruz led all hitters with four postseason home runs and 11 RBIs, and his three-run, 13th-inning homer secured Nashville's sweep of Tacoma in the PCL championship series.

It was the Sounds' first title in 23 years and the franchise's only Triple-A championship. It was also a good start for the Brewers' affiliation with the Sounds, who continue to push for a new stadium deal in Nashville.

"When we took all of those young players from Nashville, he did a great job of motivating the guys who he had left," Melvin said of Kremblas. "I don't think he's afraid to confront a player on an issue. But at the same time, he's young enough that those guys know it was not too long ago that he was playing this game. They feel like they can go to him."

Kremblas' former players remain some of his strongest supporters. Shortstop J.J. Hardy, who played under Kremblas at Huntsville, called him "a baseball genius."

"He's a lot like Ned (Yost, the Brewers manager) in the way he backs up his players 100 percent," Hardy said. "He has a good time, but he knows that there's a time to play around and a time to be serious. Frank has something about him where his players don't want to let him down. I can't really explain it, but that's just the way it is."

Hardy's finest Minor League season came in 2003, when he helped a Kremblas-led Huntsville Stars team to a first-place finish in their division and a trip to the Southern League championship series.

But those on-field successes are not necessarily the standard by which Kremblas is judged, according to Melvin.

"The manager's job in the Minor Leagues is to develop prospects," the Brewers' baseball boss said. "Sometimes you have to put the player in front of the team -- it's a little bit backwards down there. They don't always get evaluated on wins and losses, they get judged on the way they handle players."

Kremblas batted .235 over parts of eight Minor League seasons after the Cincinnati Reds made him a 23rd-round draft pick in 1989. Before that, the Carroll, Ohio, native (he now lives in Phoenix) was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection at Eastern Kentucky University.

Also set to return in 2006 are Nashville hitting coach Gary Pettis, pitching coach Stan Kyles and athletic trainer Jeff Paxson.

Pettis was a five-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder during an 11-year Major League career. He followed up the Sounds' championship season by managing the Arizona Fall League's Peoria Javelinas to a 17-14 record.

Kyles will serve his sixth season in the Brewers organization and his third as Triple-A pitching coach. His 2005 staff produced a franchise-record and league-leading 1,117 strikeouts, and finished fourth in the PCL with a 4.43 ERA.

The Sounds' 2006 season begins April 6 at Omaha, and the first home game at Greer Stadium is April 14 vs. Oklahoma. For ticket information, or to voice support for the Sounds' ballpark project, visit www.nashvillesounds.com.