Goedert returns to highlight 2022 coaching staff

FRISCO, Texas (January 10, 2021) - The Frisco RoughRiders, in conjunction with the Texas Rangers, have announced manager Jared Goedert will return to the RoughRiders for the 2022 season. Goedert will be joined by Jeff Andrews (pitching coach), Eric Dorton (hitting coach) and Chad Comer and Avery Sullivan (developmental coaches). Yuichi Takizawa (athletic trainer) and Jon Nazarko (strength and conditioning coach) round out the Riders 2022 staff.

Goedert is back with the RoughRiders for his second season in 2022 after piloting Frisco to a 64-55 record in 2021 and a Southern Division title. The Riders .538 winning percentage was the best since 2014. The 36-year-old played nine seasons of professional baseball in the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays organizations. In 2016, the Concordia, Kansas native joined the Rangers organization, serving as a hitting coach with the Spokane Indians. Goedert’s stops as a hitting coach included the AZL Rangers (2017), Spokane (2018) and Hickory (2019).

Andrews enters his 19th season with the Rangers organization and returns to Frisco after serving as the RoughRiders pitching coach from 2009-15 and again in 2021. In that role, he earned the 2014 Texas League Mike Coolbaugh Coach of the Year award and shared the 2013 Bobby Jones Player Development Man of the Year Award. Under his tutelage, the RoughRiders staff owned a league-best 3.98 ERA in 2021. The South Dakota native will celebrate his 37th season as a minor league instructor in 2022. As a player, the right-handed pitcher was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 26th round of the 1981 draft and played two seasons in the Cubs farm system.

Dorton, who will begin his first season with the RoughRiders in 2022, joins the club after serving as the hitting coach for the Low-A Down East Wood Ducks in 2021. Under Dorton, the Woodies led all of Minor League Baseball with 290 stolen bases. A native of Champaign, Ill., the 31-year-old enters his fourth season with the Rangers farm system and his second as a hitting coach. Prior to his time in professional baseball, he was an all-region center fielder at West Texas A&M and a collegiate coach from 2012-18.

Comer, a native of Mansfield, Texas, will enter his sixth season with the Rangers and his first in Frisco. Comer was the hitting coach for the High-A Hickory Crawdads in 2021 after serving as a hitting coach at various levels of the Rangers system from 2016-19. The former University of Texas at Arlington catcher played two seasons in the Atlanta Braves organization, reaching High-A Lynchburg in 2012. He was drafted by Atlanta in the 29th round of the 2011 draft after four seasons at UTA.

Sullivan spent the last two seasons as a pitching research and development coach within the Rangers organization. He studied exercise science at Texas Wesleyan University before earning his master's degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Takizawa begins his first season with the RoughRiders and his fifth in the Rangers organization. The native of Hokkaido, Japan spent 2021 with the High-A Hickory Crawdads. Takizawa holds degrees from HOSEI University in Japan and Southern Arkansas University.

Nazarko joins the Frisco staff for his first season while he will enter his third in the Texas organization. Prior to his time in professional baseball, Nazarko worked for his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island, for four years as the primary strength coach for baseball, women's basketball and men's and women's soccer. As a student-athlete for the Rams, he played both baseball and basketball.

The RoughRiders will begin the 2022 season with Opening Day on April 8th at Riders Field. For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.

About the RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team was founded in 2003 and has finished first among all Double-A franchises in attendance for 15 consecutive seasons (2005-2019). In August 2014, the RoughRiders were purchased by an ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg. Since then, the new ownership group, together with the City of Frisco, has spearheaded numerous major franchise enhancements, investing over $8 million in a wide array of facility upgrades and improvements, including a state-of-the-art HD video board, sound system, Bull Moose Saloon, InTouch Grille, Riders Outpost Team Store and the world's largest water feature in a sports facility, the massive Lazy River. These enhancements earned the Riders and the City of Frisco Ballpark Digest's prestigious "Best Ballpark Renovation" award for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). More than 170 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. For more information on the Frisco RoughRiders, please visit RidersBaseball.com or contact [email protected].