From Cooperstown to Oakland to Lansing: Pohl to head Lugnuts' coaching staff

LANSING, Mich. – Cooperstown, N.Y., native and former Oakland Athletics bullpen catcher Phil Pohl will become the 17th manager in Lansing Lugnuts team history, the Athletics announced Thursday, helming the Lugnuts’ 2022 staff.

The 31-year-old manager will be joined by returning pitching coach Don Schulze, returning hitting coach Javier Godard and a trio of newcomers in assistant hitting coach Craig Conklin, head athletic trainer Jake Routhier and sport performance coach Kevin Guild.

The Lugnuts will open 2022 unofficially on Wednesday, April 6, playing the Michigan State Spartans in the Crosstown Showdown, before opening their 26th High-A Central season at Jackson® Field™ against the Lake County Captains on Friday, April 8.

Born in Bakersfield, Calif., Pohl’s family moved to Cooperstown when he was nine years old. He starred at Cooperstown Central High School, where he was honored as the 2008 Gatorade New York High School Baseball Player of the Year. Pohl was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 44th round, becoming Cooperstown Central’s first ever draft pick, but decided to attend Clemson University. He served as a two-time team captain for the Tigers, was honored three times as a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll, and was selected Second Team All-ACC. Pohl signed as a 28th-round pick of the Athletics in 2012 and played four seasons of Minor League Baseball, rising as high as Triple-A Sacramento. Upon retiring from playing, he rejoined the organization as the A’s MLB bullpen catcher, a position he held through the end of the 2021 season. This will be his first season managing.

Pitching coach Don Schulze returns for a second year with the Lugnuts after a successful 2021 campaign. Under Schulze’s tutelage, Lansing pitchers whiffed 1,157 batters in just 1,031 innings, with standouts Aiden McIntyre, Colin Peluse, Jack Cushing, Jack Weisenburger and Dalton Sawyer each earning promotions while Charles Hall was named the top right-handed relief pitcher on the High-A Central Post-Season All-Star Team. Schulze was drafted 11th overall in 1980 out of Lake Park High School by his hometown Chicago Cubs, reaching the Majors with the Cubs in 1983. He went on to pitch for Cleveland, the New York Mets, Toledo Mud Hens, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres, and made a stop in Japan with the Orix Blue Wave from 1990-1992. Schulze joined the Athletics in 2006, making prior Midwest League stops in Kane County (2007-2008) and Beloit (2016, 2018-2019). He lives in Dixon, Ill.

Hitting coach Godard also rejoins the Lugnuts for a second season after a debut season that saw breakout performances for Max Schuemann, Jake Suddleson, Shane Selman, William Simoneit and the High-A Central’s Post-Season All-Star Third Baseman, Jordan Díaz. Godard originally signed with Oakland as an international free agent from Baruta, Venezuela, in 2013. He played six years as an infielder in the minors, the last three with the Short-Season Vermont Lake Monsters. Upon the conclusion of his playing career, he went directly into coaching for the A’s, working with High-A Stockton in 2019.

Assistant hitting coach Craig Conklin joins the Lugnuts after spending 2021 as the assistant hitting coach with Low-A Stockton, working with such top prospects as Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler, Brayan Buelvas and Zack Gelof. A native of Malibu, Calif., Conklin worked as an area supervisor at the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, throwing batting practice to a young Bryce Harper, before spending four years as the Athletics’ area scout covering Southern California. His first season coaching in the A’s system was in 2019, spent with Triple-A Las Vegas.

Head athletic trainer Jake Routhier comes to the Lugnuts after working with the 2019 Dominican Summer League A’s and the 2021 Stockton Ports. Routhier attained his degree from the University of Connecticut and interned with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the A’s organization.

Sport performance coach Kevin Guild graduated from Keene State College (Keene, N.H.) and handled strength and conditioning at Keene High School before joining the Athletics as the strength and conditioning coach with the 2018-2019 Vermont Lake Monsters and 2021 Stockton Ports.For the latest information about the Lansing Lugnuts, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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