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River Bandits Announce 2025 Coaching Staff

Jesus Azuaje becomes 41st manager in franchise history
January 16, 2025

Davenport, Iowa — The Quad Cities River Bandits, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, today announced their 2025 coaching staff, led by manager Jesus Azuaje. The skipper is joined by pitching coach Derrick Lewis, hitting coach Ryan Powers, assistant pitching coach Clayton Mortensen, assistant hitting coach Kyle MacKinnon, strength

Davenport, Iowa — The Quad Cities River Bandits, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, today announced their 2025 coaching staff, led by manager Jesus Azuaje. The skipper is joined by pitching coach Derrick Lewis, hitting coach Ryan Powers, assistant pitching coach Clayton Mortensen, assistant hitting coach Kyle MacKinnon, strength and conditioning coach Chad Gravenorst, and athletic trainer Nevan Dominguez.

Azuaje enters his 11th season—third managerial—in the Royals’ organization and takes the reins in Davenport after managing the Columbia Fireflies (Single-A) to a 68-63 record in 2024 and the ACL Royals (Rookie) to a 31-25 record in 2023. He spent the previous eight seasons serving as hitting coach in Burlington (2015-2016), Lexington (2017-2020), and Columbia (2021-2022). Prior to joining the Royals, Azuaje spent six seasons as a manager and coach in the Seattle Mariners organization, including a stint in the Midwest League as hitting coach for Clinton (Single-A) in 2009, and as Latin America Field Coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014.

The 52-year-old supersedes Brooks Conrad, who managed the River Bandits over the past three seasons, including a second-half west division title in 2024.

Lewis returns to Quad Cities for his third year as pitching coach and his sixth with the Royals organization after serving in the same role at Northwest Arkansas (Double-A) in 2021 and 2022. Before beginning his tenure with Kansas City, the Montgomery, Alabama native spent 16 seasons in the Atlanta Braves organization, including the last two as pitching coordinator. Lewis played seven seasons in the Braves minor league system from 1997-2003 after being selected in the 20th round of the 1997 Draft.

Powers, who began his tenure with Kansas City as a video intern for Quad Cities in 2021, returns to the River Bandits for his third season as hitting coach after serving as assistant hitting coach with Omaha (Triple-A) in 2022. Entering his fifth year in the Royals organization, Powers spent two years with the Miami Marlins as a player development analyst in 2019 and minor league video coordinator in 2018. He also held minor league video intern roles with the Texas Rangers (2017) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2015). Powers graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in 2014 with a degree in business administration with a concentration in sports management and a leadership minor. At Wartburg, Powers was a four-year starter at third base for the Knights and was a two-time All-Conference selection, two-time All-Region selection, and was named to the ABCA/Rawlings All-America team in 2013.

Mortensen enters his first year with the River Bandits and his second stint as a coach in the Royals organization after serving as pitching coach for Idaho Falls (Rookie) in 2019. The former first-round pick spent the past four seasons as a pitching coach in the Chicago Cubs organization, leading the Arizona Cubs’ (Rookie) staff in 2024, South Bend’s (High-A) in 2023, and Myrtle Beach’s (Single-A) in 2022 and 2021. Prior to his coaching career, Mortensen pitched five seasons in the Majors with St. Louis (2009), Oakland (2009-2010), Colorado (2010), and Boston (2012-2013). After being drafted by the Cardinals in 2007, the Rexburg, Idaho native made 10 appearances for the Swing of the Quad Cities during his first professional season. The right-hander also pitched four seasons for the Omaha Storm Chasers (Triple-A) as a Royals farm hand from 2013-2016.

MacKinnon joins Quad Cities’ staff for the first time after serving as assistant hitting coach in Columbia in 2024. Entering his second year with the Royals organization, MacKinnon spent 2023 as a minor league apprentice coach with the Houston Astros after a brief stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a minor league coach. Before entering the professional ranks, he was the head baseball coach at McPherson College (Kansas) from 2021-2023 after serving as an assistant coach there from 2016-2021.

Gravenorst returns to the River Bandits for a second season after making his Royals organization debut with Quad Cities in 2024. Prior to his time in Davenport, Gravenorst worked as a biokineticist for Virgin Active South Africa and spent six years as a consultant for Major League Baseball. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biokinetics from University of the Western Cape (South Africa) in 2008 and a master’s in biokinetics from the University of Cape Town in 2016.

Dominguez enters his second year as Quad Cities’ athletic trainer after serving in that role for Columbia (2022-2023), Surprise (2020-2021), and the Royals Dominican Academy (2018-2019). He was the Major League Athletic Training Intern for the Royals in 2017 and previously worked professional extreme sports events with the Red Bull Rampage and Red Bull Crashed Ice. Dominguez is a 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He is a Certified Athletic Trainer through the BOC and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA.